There are three main stamping processes: blanking, bending, and stretching. Different processes have different requirements for plates. The selection of plates should also be considered according to the general shape of products and processing technology.
1. Blanking requires that the plate should have enough plasticity to ensure that the plate will not crack during blanking. The soft material has good blanking performance. After blanking, parts with smooth sections and small inclination can be obtained; The quality of hard materials after blanking is poor, and the section unevenness is large, especially for thick plates. For brittle materials, tearing is easy to occur after blanking, especially when the width is very small.
2. The plates to be bent shall have sufficient plasticity and a low yield limit. A sheet with high plasticity is not easy to crack when bending. The plate with a low yield limit and low elastic modulus has small rebound deformation after bending, and it is easy to obtain the bending shape with accurate size. The material with greater brittleness must have a larger relative bending radius when bending, otherwise, it is easy to crack in the bending process.
3. Sheet metal stretching, especially deep stretching, is a difficult kind of sheet metal processing technology. It not only requires the stretching depth to be as small as possible, the shape to be as simple and smooth as possible but also requires the material to have good plasticity. Otherwise, it is very easy to cause the overall distortion, local wrinkling, and even tensile cracking of the parts.
Explanations of some of the main processes involved in fabrication of metal:
1. Design: The product or part is designed using computer-aided design (CAD) software or by hand.
2. Material selection: The appropriate type and thickness of metal is selected for the project.
3. Cutting: The metal is cut to the required size and shape using tools such as shears, saws, or lasers.
4. Bending: The metal is bent to the desired angle using tools such as a press brake.
5. Welding: Pieces of metal are welded together using techniques such as arc welding, MIG welding, or TIG welding.
6. Machining: The metal may undergo further machining processes such as drilling, milling, or turning.
7. Finishing: The fabricated part is cleaned, deburred, and may undergo additional surface treatment such as painting or powder coating.
