STRAIN STUDIES IN SHEET METAL STAMPING

ABSTRACT
Sheet metal is one of the most important semi finished product used in engineering industries. Sheet metals are characterized by a high ratio of surface area to thickness. Sheet metal forming is basically conversion for a flat sheet metal into a product of desired shape without defect like fracture or excessive localized thinning. It is well known that the strain history and its evolution (also known as strain path) greatly affect the forming limit strains of sheet metals. Usually it is assumed that the strain path remain linear during inline stamping of sheets using flat cylindrical punch. The present work shows that the nature of strain path even in simple benchmark tooling actually varies depending upon the strain history. The strain path in the negative minor strain domain shows a curvilinear behavior but in biaxial stamping region, the paths are nearly curvilinear. Sheet metal is one of the most important semi finished products used in the steel industry and sheet metal forming technology is therefore an important engineering discipline with in the area of mechanical engineering. Sheet metal is widely used for industrial and consumer parts because of its capacity for being bent into intricate shapes. Sheet metal parts comprised of a large fraction of automotive, agriculture machinery and aircraft components and of consumer appliances. In automobiles the sheet metal is deformed into the desired and brought into the required for to get auto body pressings like bonnet, bumpers, doors etc. In aircrafts sheets metal is used for making the entire fuselage wings and (body). In domestic applications sheet metal is used for making many parts like washing machine body and covers, iron tops, timepiece cases, fan blades and casing, cooking utensils etc. The products made by sheet forming processes include a large variety of shares and sizes, ranging from simple bends to double curvatures with shallow or deep recesses. Typical examples are metal desks, appliance bodies, aircraft panels, beverage cans, auto bodies, and kitchen utensils. In many cases, while deforming the sheet metal, the component fractures at certain point. The causes of failure are parameters related to forming process. Traditional evaluation of formability is based on both intrinsic tests and simulative tests. The intrinsic test measures the basic characteristics properties of material that can be related to their formability. These tests provide comprehensive information that is insensitive to the thickness and surface condition of the material. Examples of intrinsic tests are Uniaxial tensile test, plane strain tensile test, Marciniak Biaxial Stretching test, Miyauchi shear test, Hardness test, The simulative tests subject the material to deformation that closely resembles the deformation that occurs in a particular forming operation. Examples of these tests include Erichnes, Olses, Fukui, Swift tests. Successful sheet metal stamping depends on the selection of material with adequate formability, the proper design of the part and the tooling, the surface condition of the sheet, selection and application of lubricants, and the speed of the stamping press.

INTRODUCTION Sheet metal stamping is a process employed in manufacturing metal parts with as specific design. A metal alloy sheet is used as the stock. This stock is either stamped on a press using dies and punches or drawn into shapes on hydraulic deep drawing machines. Common examples are sheet metal machines, automobile parts, metals components used in audio and video devices, aerosol spray cans, and even military tanks. A household example is the used of sheets of metal to make pots and pans. Sheet metal can be molded into different pre-determined shapes. The metal must be malleable and needs to flow easily in order to be drawn into shapes. Stamping can be done on metals like Aluminum, Zinc, steel, Nickel. This is a mass production, economical process with low cycle time. Hence, it is widely used in manufacturing large volume products with semi-skilled labor; the process is also called chipless manufacturing.