Sei sulla pagina 1di 7

PRESS & PRESS WORK

Press Work:

Press Work may be defined as a chipless manufacturing process by which


various metal components are made by cold stamping. The machine used
for press work is known as a press.

Process:

A press has a frame which supports a ram or a slide and a bed, a source of
mechanism for operating the ram in line normal to the bed. The ram is
equipped with suitable punches and a die black is attached towards the bed.
A stamping is produced by the downward motion of the ram, towards the die,
and applying impact loading and shear force to the sheet of metal. Press
work operations are generally done at room temperature.

The sheet metal operations in press work are usually grouped into two types:
cutting operations and forming operations. In forming operations the shear
force applied are below the ultimate shear strength that leads only to the
contouring of the work piece. For metal cutting operations, the forces applied
are of an impact type, and shear the metal as they exceed the ultimate
shear strength.

Elastic Recovery / Spring-Back effect:

In metal working processes the deformation imparted to the work piece is


the sum of the plastic deformation, and elastic deformation. The elastic
deformation is recoverable, whereas the plastic deformation is permanent.
So, at the end of a metal stamping process, when the pressure on the metal
is released, there is an elastic recovery and the total deformation will get
reduced a little. This phenomenon is known as “spring-back”, for which the
yield strength is a primary deciding factor. Although the spring-back is
proportional to the yield strength, the amount of spring-back is very difficult
to predict. It has been standardized for only a few alloys for specific
configurations, so the trial-error method usually is employed for determining
the amount. To compensate for the spring-back, cold deformation must
always be carried out beyond the desired limit by an amount equal to spring-
back.
Press Operations:

Blanking:

Blanking is cutting up a large sheet of stock into smaller pieces suitable for
the next operation in stamping, such as drawing and forming. Often this is
combined with piercing. The whole and metal left behind are usually
discarded as waste. The process and machinery are usually the same as that
used in piercing, except that the piece being punched out in the piercing
process is scrap.

Punching:
Punching in metalworking is the process of using a punch press to push a
punch through the material and into a die to create a hole in the work piece.
A scrap slug from the hole is deposited into the die in the process.
Depending on the material being punched this slug may be recycled and
reused or discarded. The hole walls will show burnished area, rollover, and
die break and must often be further processed. Punching is often the
cheapest method for creating holes in sheet metal in medium to high
production. Punching is the most cost effective process of making holes in
strip or sheet metal for average to high fabrication and it is able to create
multiple shaped holes. Punches and dies are usually fabricated from
conventional tool steel or carbides that create a burnished region roll-over,
and die break on sidewall of the resulting hole.
Piercing:

Piercing is a shearing process where a punch and die are used to create a
hole in sheet metal or a plate. The process and machinery are usually the
same as that used in blanking, except that the piece being punched out is
scrap in the piercing process.

Lancing:

Lancing is the manufacturing process where a piece of material is sheared


and bent in order to make tabs, vents, and louvers. A key part of this process
is that there is not reduction of material, only a modification in its geometry.
There are three key characteristics to the process of lancing: The material is
only modified, nothing is removed or one or more cuts are made, with the
remainder being bent to the necessary angle or curve or ability to make a
special feature in a part using only one cut in the material.
Lancing can be used to make partial contours and free up material for other
operations further down the production line. Along with these reasons
lancing is also used to make tabs (where the material is bent at a 90 degree
angle to the material), vents (where the bend is around 45 degrees), and
louvers (where the piece is rounded or cupped).

Notching:
Notching is a metal-cutting process used on sheet metal or thin bar stock,
sometimes on angle sections or tube. A shearing or punching process is used
in a press, so as to cut vertically down and perpendicular to the surface,
working from the edge of a work piece. Sometimes the goal is merely the
notch itself, but usually this is a precursor to some other process: such as
bending a corner in sheet or joining two tubes at a tee joint, notching one to
fit closely to the other.
Notching is a low-cost process, particularly for its low tooling costs with a
small range of standard punches.
Perforation:
Perforation refers to the puncturing of a material with a harder (usually
sharp) object to create a hole or aperture. A press die is used to form
multiple holes on a metal sheet usually giving it in a specific pattern. Die and
punch sets can be used for thicker materials, or materials that require large
gauge holes, while smaller holes are usually not made in an industrial press
except for large work pieces.

Nibbling:
The nibbling process cuts a contour by producing a series of overlapping slits
or notches. This allows for complex shapes to be formed in sheet metal up to
6 mm (0.25 in) thick using simple tools. Nibbling can occur on the exterior or
interior of the material; however interior cuts require a hole to insert the tool.
The process is often used on parts that do not have quantities that can
justify a dedicated blanking die. The edge smoothness is determined by the
shape of the cutting die and the amount the cuts overlap; naturally the more
the cuts overlap the cleaner the edge. For added accuracy and smoothness
most shapes created by nibbling undergo filing or grinding processes after
completion.
Slitting:
It refers to the operation of making incomplete holes in a wor kpiece. Usual
stamping dies or cutters are placed at an offset to the work piece so that an
incomplete cut is made than a usual complete hole.

Bending:

Bending is a common metalworking technique to process sheet metal. It is


usually done by hand on a box and pan brake, or industrially on a brake
press or machine brake.

Usually bending has to overcome both tensile stresses as well as


compressive stresses. When bending is done, the residual stresses make it
spring back towards its original position, so we have to over bend the sheet
metal keeping in mind the residual stresses. 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. A bend has a radius. The
term bend radius refers to the inside radius. The bend radius depends upon
the dies used, the metal properties, and the metal thickness.

Shaving:
The edges of a blanked part are generally rough and uneven. Accurate
dimensions and smoother edges are obtained by removing a thin strip of
metal along the edges. This operation is termed as shaving.
Squeezing:
Under this operation, metal is caused to flow in all portions of a die cavity
under the action of compressive forces. This form of stamping usually gives
desired size and shape to the sheet metal directly, and no further operations
are required. The sheet metal takes the shape of the die into which it is
made to squeeze.

Potrebbero piacerti anche