Finite Element Optimization of Vee-ring Factor in Fine-blanking Process

The vee-ring is one of the most characteristic features of the fine-blanking process which is derived from the conventional blanking. With the vee-ring, a counter plate and some other working parameters, a component with a precise geometry and smoothly blanked surface can be produced without any major secondary operations. However, these working parameters are always empirically determined or determined by trial-and-error method, which is time-consuming and expensive. In this study, a numerical simulation method was used to analyze the el- feet of vee-ring factors on product quality, such as distance between vee-ring and punch, vee-ring height and blank holder force, so as to obtain as high clean cut ratio as possible. During the simulation, the model was assumed as axisymmetric one and the workpiece was considered as rigid plastic material, meanwhile the tools were defined as rigid bodies so as to shorten the computational time. A damage model taking into account the influence of hydro- static stress was used to simulate material fracture in fine-blanking. The result obtained from the simulation indi- cated that with the help of vee-ring, the metal material near the shear band does not flow with the punch penetra- tion and high compressive stress in the shear band tained with a vee-ring model than the one obtained distance between vee-ring and punch is, the higher is generated. Consequently, higher clean cut ratio can be ob- with a plane blank holder model. Furthermore, the longer the the height of roll-over becomes.

Comparative Study on Shearing Edge Quality Influence of the Change of Tool Geometry in Fine-Blanking for Non-homogeneous Materials

Excellent quality of shearing edge implies that a s mo oth cutting edge without tearing will be observed on the whole edge surface. Thi s is one of the most significant features of the Fine-blanking process. To achi eve such a superb blanking edge quality in fine-blanking, there actually involv es quite a large number of factors, such as blanking speed, processing material, product shape, lubrication and tool geometry, to be considered simultaneously d uring the operation. Nevertheless, the thorough investigations on different effe cts of those critical factors for different kinds of popular and applicable mate rial are rare and limited. Thus, the objective of this paper is mainly focused o n the study of the quality influence of tool geometry change in fine-blanking f or non-homogeneous materials. However, the most obvious change of the tool geo metry during the operation will be the essential variation of the nose radius of the punch. This is because the nose radius usually seriously deteriorates with the increasing service period in mass production which eventually causes the ent irely lose of the specific features of the fine-blanking process. Therefore, a tailor-made experimental study was carried out to investigate the relationship between the punch nose radius and the shearing edge quality, such as blanked edg e finish, burr height and die-roll height, during fine-blanking for different types of material. Five punches with each specified nose radius (Rp), 0.00 mm, 0.25 mm, 0.50 mm, 0.75 mm and 1.00 mm, and four kinds of blanking material ( Mil d steel SS400, Stainless steel AISI316L, Copper alloy UNSC16200 and Aluminium al loy AA6063 ) were employed throughout the study. Subsequently, features of the s heared edge surfaces and data of each experiment were observed and captured for further analysis in this research. Consequently, findings show that an increase of punch nose radius would produce a higher percentage of fracture of blanked ed ge and increase the amount of burr height. In overall comparison, it is found th at mild steel and copper alloy do provide better surface edge finish with higher percentage of sheared area and less burr height than that of stainless steel an d aluminium alloy.

An Improved Ductile Fracture Criterion for Fine-blanking Process

In order to accurately simulate the fine-blanking process, a suitable ductile fracture is significant.So an evaluation strategy based on experimental and corresponding simulation results of tensile, compression, torsion and fine-blanking test is designed to evaluate five typical ductile fracture criteria, which are widely-used in metal forming process.The stress triaxiality and ductile damage of each test specimen are analyzed.The results show that none of these five criteria is sufficient for all tests.Furthermore, an improved fracture criterion based on Rice and Tracey model, taking the influence of both volume change and shape change of voids into account, is proposed.The characterization of this model for fine-blanking process is easily done by the tensile test and the prediction result shows good.