Sheet Metal Working

sheet metal

A thin, flat piece of metal formed during an industrial process that is used for many everyday applications. sheet metal is thinner than 6 mm.
The thickness of the sheet is usually referred to as its gauge, with larger gauge numbers indicating a thinner metal

sheet metal operations-

1. Bending -

• It is a metal forming operation in which the straight metal sheet is transformed into the required curved form
• In bending operations, the sheet metal is subjected to both tensile and compressive stresses 
• During the operation, plastic deformation of the material takes place beyond its elastic limit but below its ultimate strength

2. Deep drawing-

• In this operation, punch forces a sheet metal blank to plastically into the clearance between the punch and die
• Finally, the blank takes shape of a die

3. punching- 

• Punching is a forming process that uses a punch press to force a tool, called a punch, through the workpiece to create a hole via shearing
• It is the cutting operation with the help of which holes of various shapes are produced in the sheet metal
• It is similar to blanking only the main difference is that the hole is the required product and the material punched out from the hole is considered as a waste.

4. Forming -

• Stretch forming is a metal forming process in which a piece of sheet metal is stretched and bent simultaneously over a die in order to form large contoured parts.
• In this operation, sheet metal is stressed beyond its yield point so that it takes a permanent set and retains the new shape
• In this process, the shape of punch and die surface is directly reproduced without any metal flow

5. Shaving-

• This operation is used for cutting unwanted excess material from the periphery of the previously formed workpiece
• A very small amount of material is removed in this process.

6. Coining -

• Coining fabrication is a basic type of bending in which the workpiece is stamped between the punch and die.
• During the Coining process, the material is put under enough pressure that the punch tip penetrates the material at the bottom of the bend and it begins to flow into the die.

Advantage-

• Accuracy
• No Spring Back
• Repeatability

7. Perforating- 

• Perforating is sheet metal that has been manually or mechanically stamped or punched to create a pattern of holes, slots, or decorative shapes
• It is similar to piercing only difference is that the holes produced are not in a round shape
• In this process, multiple holes which are very small and close together are cut in the sheet metal.

8. Notching -

• Notching is a metal-cutting process used on sheet metal or thin bar stock, sometimes on angle sections or tube
• Similar to blanking however the full surface of punch does not cut the metal
• In this operation, the metal pieces are cut from the edges of a sheet

9. Ironing-

• Ironing is a sheet metal forming process that uniformly thins the workpiece in a specific area.