Shearing

Introduction
Shearing is the process of separating adjacent parts of a sheet, rod,
bar, tube or structural shape through controlled fracture.

Shearing is practiced in several ways:

Shearing – cutting a sheet along a straight line
Blanking – cutting a contoured part (whether circular or more complex
shape) between a punch and die in a press
Punching – removing unwanted parts of a sheet (punching a hole)
Notching – cutting out a part of the sheet edge

High production rates,

Large batches
Wide range of industrial applications
covering (automotives, railway,
aerospace, metallic furniture, home
appliances, coining – fabricating the
discs, among others).

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Blanking and Shearing
Introduction
In shearing the punch and die may be of any shape.
They may be circular (blanking),

Punch

Die

or straight blades similar to a pair of scissors (shearing)

Blade/punch

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Blanking
Introduction
Punch
Die
Blanking may operate individually or combined with other
metal forming processes (e.g. bending and stamping).

3
Punching
Introduction

Modern punching machines combine CNC technology with conventional shearing allowing to
widen the applications to the manufacturing of prototypes and small and medium batches.

4
Blanking
Introduction – historical background

Conventional blanking was developed in the late nineteenth century with the purpose of
manufacturing bicycle parts in large batch sizes. The process played a key role in the
massification of the usage of bycicles in Europe.

Before 1890 1890

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Blanking
Introduction - classification
Blanking may be classified into three different variants:

(i) Conventional blanking

(ii) Shaving
A high precision finishing operation where a small amount
of metal is sheared away from an already blanked part.
Its main purpose is to obtain a smooth, shiny, cut surface
with good dimensional accuracy (of up to 0.025 mm)

(iii) Fine blanking

Fine blanking is a specialized form of blanking that ensures
smooth, straight, cut surfaces with very tight tolerances..

6
Blanking
The mechanism

The blanking mechanism consists of five distinct stages:

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

a) Contact of the punch and the sheet

b) Slight bending at the early stages of
deformation
c) Plastic deformation and crack formation
d) Breakthrough
e) Stripping

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 Blanking
The mechanism


 



 
h

pure shear
+k Pole

A C 
 CD
1 
Fn
Ft CD
F
D B -k

Fn F sen  F
CD    sen 2
CD h 2h Stress state is pure shear.
cos 
  0  CD max  k The maximum shear stress is located at the
Ft F cos F vertical section AB, and takes a value equal to
CD    cos2  the shear yield stress k of the material.
CD h h
8
cos
Blanking
The mechanism

The model for conventional blanking will now be improved by introducing the radial clearance 'j'
between the punch and die.

Clearance j
Material
(% thickness of sheet)
High carbon steel 15

Mild steel 9

dm  d p  2 j Stainless steel 10

Duralumin 10

Mild Aluminium 7

Hard brass 7

Mild brass 6

(Values corresponding to an ideal clearance between the punch and die)

dm  d p  2 j

The clearance is the major factor determining the shape and quality of the sheared edge.
Cutting forces and the required energy are also influenced by the clearance.
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Blanking
The mechanism

j

pure shear
A C +k Pole
F F A'
C A C 
A'
  

CD
D B D 1 
B'
CD
-k

1
F 3

max
 

Material located in the clearance (region ABCD)

will gradually distort in order to follow the
movement of the punch.
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Blanking
The mechanism
On penetration of the tool edges, the sheet is first pushed into the die and plastic deformation results in
rounding of the edge of the blank (roll-over). Then, the blank is pushed into the die by plastic deformation
indicated by the parallel burnished zone on the blank . After some critical deformation, cracks are generated at
a slight angle to the cutting direction, first usually at the edge. When these cracks meet, shearing is complete

Repuchamento
Rollover

Penetração
Burnish Fracture
Início da
initiation
fissuração
Secção resistente
Section

Rollover
Secção resistente
Section

Fractured zone
Cone de rotura Burnish

Fracture zone 11
Blanking
The mechanism

Rollover plus burnished zone in case of ideal clearances

(values as % of sheet thickness).

Punch
Sheet thickness
Blankholder
Material Till 4 mm More than 4 mm
Steel

Mild 45~60 35~45

Medium 35~50 20~35 Die

Hard 20~35 10~20
Aluminium

Mild 45~65 45
Hard 30~50 30
Brass

Mild 50~60 50
Hard 20~30 20
Copper 55
Bronze 25
Níckel 55

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Blanking
The mechanism

The radial clearance j between the punch and die determines the final size of the cut-outs
(holes) and parts.

Goal: part with diameter D

Punch d p  dm  2 j
dm  D
Blank (with hole)
d p  dm  2 j
dm  D Die Goal: hole with diameter D

dp  D
dm  d p  2 j

Part
Rollover
Repuchamento

Burnish
Penetração

Fracture
Cone zone
de rotura
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Blanking
Clearance vs. morphology of the fractured surface
The fracture surface is not perfectly perpendicular to the sheet surface.
Its quality is greatly influenced by the clearance between the punch and die.

Rebarba
Burr Type I
Excessive clearance allows extensive plastic deformation,
Fractured zone
Cone de rotura separation is delayed and a long burr is pulled out at the upper
surface. (this type of fracture surface is also obtained when the
Penetração
Burnish punch and die are used beyond their tool life)
Repuchamento
Rollover


Burr
Rebarba

Cone de rotura
Fractured zone Type III
Ideal clearance.
Penetração
Burnish
Repuchamento
Rollover


Type V
With a very tight clearance, the cracks – originating from the tool
edges – miss each other and the cut is then completed by a
secondary tearing process, producing a jagged edge roughly
midway in the sheet thickness.
(this type of clearance leads to more rapid tool wear and to smaller
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tool life).
Blanking
Force and energy
The maximum force can be obtained from the empirically determined shearing stress
multiplied by the cross section to be cut.

Fmax   R p h Fmax  C  R p h
Repuchamento
Rollover Força
Force
2
Penetração
Burnish W  Qw Fmax h  0.8  R p h 2
3
Secção resistente

Deslocamento
Section
Fracture
Início da

Displacement
initiation
fissuração
Material C Qw

Steel 0.7 a 0.8

Brass 0.65 a 0.7 2/3

Força
Force Aluminium 0.6 a 0.75
2/3 Fmax Fmax

The evolution of the force F with the punch

displacement is influenced by strain
Deslocamento

Cone de rotura
Fractured zone hardening and by reduction of the cross-
Displacement

sectional area with punch movement.

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Blanking
Clearance vs. force and energy

The influence of clearance is not limited to the morphology of fractured surface because it also
influences the cutting force – the maximum value and the evolution of the cutting force with
punch displacement

Force Force

Small clearance Large clearance

Ideal clearance Ideal clearance

Displacement Displacement

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Blanking
Reduction of the cutting force
There are two methods for reducing the cutting force:

(i) Offset punches

(This technique consists of using punches with different heights)

Force
Força

With offset
com decalagem
Without
sem offset
decalagem
Offset punches

1 2

1 2
h 1/2h

1/2h Displacement
Deslocamento Main disadvantages:
h
Tool stroke is increased
3/2h The penetration of the punches into the dies increases
It is not always possible to keep the shearing forces
centred with the axis of the presses
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Blanking
Reduction of the cutting force

(ii) Bevelled (inclined) tooling through the use of shear angles on punches and dies
(This technique consists in making the cut progressively through the inclination of the punches or dies)

Force
2
Fmax  0.8  R p act h
Note: The cutting force is smaller because only the 3
instantaneous sheared length pact needs to be
considered and also because there different stress
states acting along the sheared length.
The required energy to be delivered by the press is
equal to the area under the force-displacement
curve and should be similar with or without the use
of shear angles on punches and dies. ptanα-h Displacement 18
The required punch stroke is larger.
Blanking
Conventional cutting – typical tools
There are three basic types of tools:
i) Simple cutting tools
(This type of blanking tools is mainly employed to fabricate inner or outer cuts)

ii) Progressive dies

(This type of blanking tools consists on a combination of simple cutting tools and enables to cut
simultaneously inner or outer cuts.
In general it performs different cuts in successive stations and are used in high-productivity processes)

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Blanking
Conventional cutting – typical tools

iii) Compound die

(This type of tool performs the inner and outer cuts simultaneously)

Tool Dimensional accuracy

(mm)

Simple cutting tool ±0.2

Progressive die ±0.08 a 0.15

Compound die ±0.025

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Blanking
Conventional cutting – material savings

The arrangement of the parts (or holes) in a strip is crucial to the overall economy of the
cutting process. The arrangement is also essential for determining the final costs of each
produced unit, particularly for mass production.

Sp nm
Pu   100%
Sm

The study of the arrangement of the parts (or holes) in a strip is a critical starting point for the
project and design of blanking tools.

21
Blanking
Conventional cutting – industrial cutting line

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Blanking
Conventional cutting – industrial cutting line

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Fine Blanking
Fine blanking
There is a great demand for parts and holes with very clean-cut edges, perpendicular to the
sheet surface and of a surface finish sufficiently smooth to allow immediate use of the parts.
Fine blanking (precise blanking) produces very smooth and square edges and its based on
delayed of fracture by the imposition of a high hydrostatic pressure.

Fine blanking

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Fine Blanking
Fine blanking
Fine blanking tools make use of specially
shaped blankholders (V-rings) that are
pressed into the parts just prior to beginning
of cut.
Thus, the deformation zone is kept in
compression by the use of counterpunches
(lower pressure cushions) and the whole
thicknesses are plastically sheared.

25
Fine Blanking
Fine blanking

The main active elements of a fine blanking tool are the punch, the die, the blankholder with V-
ring and the counterpunches (cushions). The clearance between the punch and the die is
considerably smaller than in conventional blanking.

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Fine Blanking
Fine blanking – cutting mechanism
The operation is usually carried out on triple-action hydraulic presses where the movement of
the punch, blankholder (pressure pad) and die are controlled individually during the cutting
cycle.

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Fine Blanking
Fine blanking – cutting mechanism

The combined action of the V-ring and the counterpunch (lower cushion) introduces
hydrostatic compression states, which will counteract crack formation and allow the cutting to
take place entirely by plastic deformation, resulting in full smooth and shiny surface.

m

m m
P

m

fine blanking 
conventional
blanking
Pole

3 m 1 

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Fine Blanking
Fine blanking – typical tools

29
Fine Blanking
Fine blanking – typical tools

30
Fine Blanking
Fine blanking – application case

Chain wheel production for a bicycle or motor cycle:

Comparison between conventional blanking and fine blanking.

31
Fine Blanking
Fine blanking – force and cutting work
The maximum cutting force in fine blanking is higher than that of conventional blanking.
This is because the clearance between punch and die is much smaller and also because of the
compression states induced by the blankholder and counterpunch increase the value of the
critical shear stress.

Força
Force
Arrombamentoblanking
Conventional convencional
Corteblanking
Fine fino
Fmax  Cf  R p h Cf  0 .9 ~ 1 .2
Fmax

3
W f  Q f Fmax h  Fmax h
4

h Deslocamento
Displacement

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Blanking
Integration of blanking with metal forming processes

The fabrication of beverage cans requires an initial

blanking operation to obtain the initial blank.

33
Blanking
Self study
Solve the proposed exercises.

34