SHEET METAL DESIGN

Sheet metal
• Sheet metal is metal formed by an industrial process into thin, flat
pieces.
• Sheet metal is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking
and it can be cut and bent into a variety of shapes. Countless
everyday objects are fabricated from sheet metal
• Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are
considered foil or leaf and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 in) are
considered Plate
• Sheet metal is available in flat pieces or coiled strips. The coils are
formed by running a continuous sheet of metal through a roll slitter.
• In most of the world, sheet metal thickness is consistently specified in
millimeters. In some standards, the thickness of sheet metal is
commonly specified by a traditional, non-linear measure known as
its gauge the larger the gauge number, the thinner the metal.
Commonly used steel sheet metal ranges from 30 gauge to about 7
gauge
• Gauge differs between ferrous (iron based) metals and nonferrous
metals such as aluminum or copper; copper thickness, for example is
measured in ounces, which represents the weight of copper
contained in an area of one square foot. Parts manufactured from
sheet metal must maintain a uniform thickness for ideal results
 Hot rolling and cold rolling
What is hot rolling and cold rolling?
• Hot rolling is a mill process which involves rolling the steel at a high
temperature (typically at a temperature over 1700° F), which is
above the steel's recrystallization temperature. ... Hot rolled steel is
used in situations where precise shapes and tolerances are not
required
• Cold Rolled Steel A rolling process at temperatures that are close to
normal room temperature are used to create cold rolled steel. This
increases the strength of the finished product through the use of
strain hardening by as much as 20 percent
(Cold rolling is a process by which the sheet metal or strip stock is introduced between rollers
and then compressed and squeezed. The amount of strain introduced determines the hardness
and other material properties of the finished product)
• As one of the most widely used steel metals, carbon steel is
highly malleable and comes in a range of carbon content levels.
... Cold rolled steel is more brittle than hot rolled and also causes
more concern with forming operations. Hot rolled is used for
forming steel and is less expensive than cold rolled finishes
• The difference between CRS and 304 stainless steel is that CRS
is a process and 304 is an alloy. Steel, hot or cold rolled, will rust
and corrode. It is used in applications where that is not a
consideration. Stainless steel is an alloy with chromium and
nickel that prevents rust and corrosion
Example
Sheet metal forming process
Shearing
Shearing
Shearing
Shearing Operations
Shearing Operations
 Operations Cutting

Shearing by two sharp cutting edges.

Plastic deformation penetration fracture
 Shearing, Blanking and Punching
Shearing - Cutting on sheet-metal with straight
edges.
Blanking - Cutting sheet-metal with a closed
contour.
Punching - Making holes on sheet-metal.
 Sheet-metal Cutting
c = at
c = clearance
a = allowance
t = thickness

Blanking:
Blanking punch dia. = Db- 2c
Blanking die dia. = Db

Punch
Hole punch dia. = Db
0.25 to 1.5 Hole die dia. = Db+ 2c
 Sheet-metal Cutting

Small clearance

Cutting force = StL

S = Shear strength of sheet-metal
t = Sheet-metal thickness
L = Length of cutting edge
or, Cutting force = 0.7TtL Large clearance
T = Ultimate tensile strength of sheet-metal
Sheet-metal Cutting Operations
Cut-off

Parting

Slotting Perforating Notching / Seminotching

 Sheet-metal Cutting Operations
Fine blanking -
close tolerances
and smooth
edges in one
step.

Trimming - Cutting operation to remove excess metal

Shaving - Shearing with very small clearance to obtain
accurate dimensions., secondary or finishing operation.
Punches and Dies
Punches and Dies
Sheet Metal Characteristics and
Formability
Sheet Metal Characteristics and
Formability
 Bending

V- bending Edge - bending

Bending Analysis

Spring back

Die-opening
dimension
 Bending Operations

Straight flanging Stretch flanging Shrink flanging

Hemming Seaming Curling

 Bending Operations

Channel bending U-bending air-bending

Offset-bending Corrugating Tube forming

Bending Sheets, Plates, Tubes
SPRING BACK-
Miscellaneous Bending and Related
Operations
Bending Sheets, Plates, Tubes
Bending Sheets, Plates, Tubes
Bend allowance
To know the BLANK length, BEND ALLOWANCE
or BEND DEDUCTION should be calculated.

BA/BD requires the location of neutral line,

which is defined by the K factor!

K- factor is a ratio that represents the location of the neutral

sheet with
Respect to the sheet thickness. K= t/T

BA =  (R + KT) A/180
K-Factor depends mainly on :
1.material property
2.radius of the bend
3.Ambient temperature
4.Direction of the material grain
5.Method of bending.

Reverse engineering is the most generic way to find out the K-

Factor

Bend Deduction = Length X + Length Y – Total Flat Length

Outside Setback = (Tan(Bend Angle/2)) * (thickness + Bend Radius)
Bend Allowance = (2 * Outside Setback) – BendDeduction
K-Factor = (-Bend Radius + (Bend Allowance /  *
BendAngle/180)))/thickness
BA and BD
 Bend allowance

Consider a sheet with a 20 mm thickness and a length of 300 mm as shown in

Figure 1. We are going to review three bending scenarios with three different
bending angles; 60, 90 and 120, and we will calculate K-Factor, Bend Allowance
and Bend Deduction for them. The bending tool has a radius of 30 mm, which
means that our Inside Bend Radius (R) is 30 mm.
90 Degrees Bend Angle

At the neutral axis

• we can calculate the Bend Allowance as follows:

We know that BA is the length of the arc on the neutral axis.

The length of the arc for this scenario can be calculated as

Where R’ is the radius of the arc on the neutral axis. By inserting

the Bend Allowance value in the above equation
Now if we subtract R from R’ we can find the distance of the neutral
axis (t) from the inner face

From the K-Factor equation

 Bending Angles Less Than 90 degrees

Then we have to calculate Leg Length 1 and Leg Length 2

Where R is the Inside bend radius which is equal to 30

mm in this example. We can calculate Leg Length 1
through a few simple equations
 Now let’s calculate Leg Length 2

Now that we have both Leg Length 1 and 2 we can use the following
equation again to calculate the Bend Allowance
To calculate R’ which is the radius of the arc on the neutral axis we
can use the following equation

A is the bending angle in the above equation so

To calculate the neutral axis distance from the inner face (t) we can
subtract inside bend radius from R’

And by having t and the sheet thickness (T) we can calculate the K-
Factor as follow
Bending Angles Greater Than 90 degrees
Next we calculate Leg Length 2

Now we can calculate the Bending Allowance:

By having BA we can now calculate K-Factor

 Bend Deduction Calculation
Bend Deduction can be calculated using the following equation:

Where OSSB is the outside setback. OSSB is defined as illustrated in

figure 5 for different bending angles and can be calculated using the
equation below:

Where A is the bending angle. T is the sheet thickness and R is the bending
radius
 Bend relief
• What is bend relief in sheet metal?
• When sheet metal makes a transition from
a bend to a flat surface, or to another bend, it
tends to rip and tear. To eliminate this, a bend
relief is added so the edge of the sheet metal is
perpendicular to the bend. In general, a
minimum bend relief is equal to the material
thickness plus the inside bend radius
Corner relief
 Embossing
What is embossing in sheet metal?
Embossing is a metal forming process for producing raised or sunken designs or
relief in sheet material by means of matched male and female roller dies,
theoretically with no change in metal thickness, or by passing sheet or a strip of
metal between rolls of the desired pattern.

Method of creating raised logos or characters on paper without ink. In this

process, two metal dies are used; one with raised logo or characters and
another with matching but recessed logo or characters. When a sheet of paper
is pressed between these dies, blind embossing occurs. See also
heat embossing.

• TO INCREASE THE STRUCTURAL RIGIDITY OF

THE PANEL AND STIFFNESS
 coining
What is coining metal?
Coining is a form of precision stamping in which a work piece is
subjected to a sufficiently high stress to induce plastic flow on the
surface of the material. ...Coining is used to manufacture parts for all
industries and is commonly used when high relief or very fine features
are required.

• The difference between coining and embossing is that the same design is created
on both sides of the work piece in embossing (one side depressed and the other
raised ), whereas in coining operation, a different design is created on each side of
work piece.
 lancing
What is lancing in a sheet metal?
Lancing is a piercing operation in which the work piece is sheared and bent with
one strike of the die. A key part of this process is that there is not reduction of
material, only a modification in its geometry. This operation is used to make
tabs, vents, and louvers.

Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of
the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent
into a variety of different shapes. ... Shearing processes -- processes
which apply shearing forces to cut, fracture, or separate the material.
louvering
Lancing and louvering
Deep Drawing
 Design Tips
•The Bend radius should, if possible, be kept the same for all
Radii in the part to minimize set up changes.

•Ideal minimum inner radius should be at least 1 material thickness.

•As a general rule, bending perpendicular to the rolling direction is

easier than bending parallel to the rolling direction.
Ex: Cold rolled steel sheets.

•Minimum flange width = 4 * Thickness + BR.

•Slots and holes distances from the bend min D = 3* thickness+BR

•Better to use oblong holes for mounting and take care of

dimensional stack up.

•Minimum Bend relief : SHEET THICKNESS + INNER BR.

Formability Tests for Sheet Metals
Formability Tests for Sheet Metals
Spinning
Forming
Explosive Forming
Magnetic Pulse Forming
Other Forming Processes
Manufacturing of Metal Honeycomb
Structures
What is bend allowance in sheet metal?
The amount of spring back is dependent on the material, and the type
of forming. When sheet metal is bent, it stretches in length. The bend
deduction is the amount the sheet metal will stretch when bent as
measured from the outside edges of the bend. The bend radius refers
to the inside radius
K- factor : What is meant by K factor in sheet metal?
The K-Factor in sheet metal working is the ratio of the neutral axis to the material
thickness. ... The K-Factor is used to calculate flat patterns because it is directly related
to how much material is stretched during the bend. It's used to determine Bend
Allowances and Bend Deductions ahead of the first piece.
Drawing
c = Clearance
Db = blank diameter
Dp = Punch diameter
Rd = die corner
radius
Rp = Punch corner
radius
F = drawing force
Fh = holding force
 Deep Drawing

Initial step bending of edge straightening of side wall

Thinning and drawing final cup shape

 Drawing Analysis
Db
Drawing ratio, DR   2.0
Dp
where Db = blank diameter
Dp = punch diameter
t = thickness of the starting blank
Db  D p
Reduction, r   0.5
Dp
Thickness to diameter ratio, t / Db 1%
D
Drawing force, F  D p tT ( b  0.7, )max. at 1/3 stroke.
Dp
Holding force,  
Fh  0.015Y Db2  ( Dp  2.2t  2 Rd ) 2
Holding pressure may be set at 0.015 of the yield strength
T = Tensile strength, Y = Yield strength, Rd = die corner radius
 Drawing Analysis
• Blank diameter can be calculated from the
conservation of volume based on the final volume
of the part.
• If the limits on the drawing ratio, reduction and
thickness-to-diameter ratio are exceeded, the blank
must be drawn in steps or having annealing
between the steps.
• Process optimization:
– Punch and die corner radii
– friction
– depth of draw (per step)
– material characteristics
Other Drawing Operations
Redrawing
Reverse drawing
– r, 40%-45% first draw
– r, 30% second draw
– r, 16% third draw

Drawing without blank

holder,
Db  D p  5t
 Drawing Defects

a) Wrinkling in flange - small holding force

b) Wrinkling in the wall - insufficient holding force,
wrinkling initially occurring on the flange.
c) Tearing - high stress, sharp die radius
d) Earing - anisotropy of the material
e) Surface scratches - Die or punch not having a smooth
surface, insufficient lubrication
Other Sheet-metal Operations
Ironing - squeezing and
drawing in conjunction
Corning & Embossing - to
produce surface details
Lancing - combination of
cutting and forming
Other Sheet-metal Operations
Rubber forming processes:
Guerin process - low cost,
small volume, pressure
up 10 MPa.
Hydroforming - Higher
pressure, up to 100 MPa.
 Dies

Components of a punch and die for blanking operation

Dies

Progressive dies
and final part
 Press
crankshaft Knuckle joint
eccentric

Press are driven mechanically or

hydraulically.
 Stretch Forming

Stretching and forming with a die at the same time.

Roll Forming
Similar to the
the rolling
process but
working on
sheet-metal or
tubes.
Spinning

Conventional
spinning

Shear spinning - thinning

and bending occur at the
same time.
 Spinning

Tube spinning - similar to shear spinning but working on a

tube.
 High Energy Forming

Explosive forming
Electrohydraulic forming
Electromagnetic forming
 Tube Bending

Stretch bending

Drawing bending

Compression bending

R/D  3.0 with mandrel

R/D  1.5 without mandrel
 Bending Analysis
BA = 2  A( R + Kbat ) / 360
where BA = bending allowance, A = bend angle, R = bend
radius, t = stock thickness, Kba = stretch factor.
For R< 2t, Kba= 0.33 ; for R 2t, Kba= 0.5.

Spring back,
A  Ab
SB 
Ab of sheet-metal part
where A’ = include angle
A’b = include angle of bending tool
w = width of sheet-metal
Bending force 2 D = die opening dimension
K bf Twt
F Kbf = 1.33 V-bending
D
Kbf = 0.33 edge bending
Welding of sheets