Producing isolated shrink corners by folding-shearing

A novel sheet forming technique, folding-shearing, is used to produce shrink corners with minimal sheet metal wastage. The limiting height of shrink corner - a key feature of many parts -is investigated through a wide a range of experimental trials and FEA simulations. Folding-shearing can produce a shrink corner over twice as tall as can conventional stamping with a blankholder. The eventual limit is necking followed by frac-ture and the influence of part size and material, die spacing, blank profile and 'shear zone angle' on necking is demonstrated, alongside insights from a simple force model. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of CIRP.

Automated summary

A novel sheet forming technique, folding-shearing, is used to produce shrink corners with minimal sheet metal wastage. The study investigates the limiting height of shrink corners and demonstrates that folding-shearing can produce shrink corners over twice as tall as conventional stamping. The study also reveals that necking is the ultimate limit and explores the influence of part size and material, die spacing, blank profile, and shear zone angle on necking.