Deep Draw Metal Stamping - Discover The Benefits and Technical Tips

Deep draw metal stamping is a specialized forming process that transforms flat metal blanks. This versatile technique allows manufacturers to produce precise, high-strength components.

The article will explore the key advantages that deep drawing offers over alternative metalworking methods. Additionally, it introduces technical best practices and critical factors that ensure successful operations of deep drawing metal stamping.

What is Deep Draw Metal Stamping?

Deep drawing is a manufacturing process in which a flat sheet metal blank is forced into a die cavity using a punch. This transforms the metal into a hollow cavity, cylinder, or cup shape solely through tensile or compressive forces acting on the material.

Deep drawing is employed across many industries, such as automotive, aerospace, and electronics, to produce hollow metal components. In essence, deep drawing metal stamping utilizes compressive and tensile forces from a punch and die to transform flat sheet metal blanks into hollow 3D shapes. It enables cost-effective, high-volume production of seamless metal cavities and cylinders across diverse industries.

What are the Advantages of Deep Drawn Stamping?

Deep draw metal stamping is an ideal choice for many stamped metal part applications because:

• Once the tooling and dies are set up, they allow for high-volume, efficient parts production with minimal downtime. Metal coils continuously feed into the transfer press, contributing to long production runs.
• It’s a one-time expense covering the entire production life of the part. The production costs become low, with more cost-effective per-unit price than other metal fabrication methods.
• The deep draw process produces seamless parts with complex geometries that would be difficult or impossible using other stamping techniques. This seamless design is beneficial for applications requiring leak-proof components.
• Deep drawing accommodates a diverse range of metals like steel, brass, copper, aluminum, and more. The fast cycle times allow for quick adjustments without disrupting overall production or lead times.

What is The Deep Drawn Stamping Process?

While our deep draw stamping process can produce specific custom components, it generally follows the same core sequence of eight steps:

• Step 1 – Reviewing Design: Our engineers thoroughly review the part design, analyzing dimensions, materials, draw ratio, and tolerances to ensure suitability for deep draw stamping.
• Step 2 – Selecting Press: We will determine the appropriate press machine size and capacity according to the part dimensions and material.
• Step 3 – Creating 3D Virtual Prototyping: A virtual 3D prototype identifies any potential design issues before production.
• Step 4 – Setting Up Equipment: Skillful engineers set up the die and punch according to the component requirements.
• Step 5 – Securing Metal Sheet: Position and secure the metal sheet or blank on the die or blank holder for uniform material flow.
• Step 6 – Punching: The punch applies a pre-set force to the metal sheet, forming the ideal cavity, cup, or irregular shape.
• Step 7 – Getting Product: After repeating punching operations, remove the final deep drawn part from the die for ready use.

What are Tips for Creating Sheet Metal Deep Drawings?

To achieve optimal deep drawn parts, there are several critical methods to optimize:

• Ensure the sheet metal blank has sufficient thickness to allow for the stretching over particular distances. A thinner material may not stretch adequately.
• Determine the material’s R-value (plastic strain ratio) and N-value (strain hardening exponent) as these influence formability.
• The blank shape, size, and product geometry can significantly impact metal flow behavior. Avoid excessively large blank sizes and overly complex shapes when possible.
• Proper lubrication and a smooth surface finish on tooling aid in reducing friction and allow the material to flow more smoothly during drawing.
• Control the press speed to stay within appropriate limits, enabling uniform metal flow without excessive thinning or wrinkling.
• The spacing between the die post and blank holder impacts material flow and thickness distribution. Smaller gaps promote thinning, while larger gaps can lead to wrinkling.
• As the punch forces the blank into the die, it creates resistance to material flow. This restraining force must be stable within an appropriate range to prevent failures like splitting or extreme thinning.

What are the Techniques to Modify The Deep Draw Stamping’s Parts?

Deep draw stamping combines with other forming operations to complete the part geometry and impart additional features or functionality. Some common supplementary techniques include:

• Beads, Ribs, and Flanges: These techniques increase rigidity in areas that may otherwise be too flexible or weak. Their strategic placement can reduce the material thickness by up to 50%.
• Bulging: This process expands the walls of a cup, shell, or tube using an internally expanding segmental punch or media like air, liquid, semi-solids, rubber, or elastomers.
• Coining: A closed-die operation that applies compression by constraining all surfaces of the workpiece.
• Curling: Forming an edge in a roll along the open end of the part.
• Dimpling: Creating local indentations to allow flush mounting of rivets, bolts, or other fastener heads.
• Embossing: Producing shallow raised or recessed patterns on the surface without significantly changing material thickness.
• Extruding/Hole Flanging: Drawing out a flange around a hole in the part.
• Piercing Holes: Cutting shaped holes in the drawn part using specialized punches.
• Ironing: Reducing the wall thickness of a shell while improving surface quality.
• Marking: Adding identification like numbers, letters, or graphics to the part surface.
• Necking: Reducing the diameter over a section of a cylindrical shell.
• Notching: Cutting-shaped notches along the part edge for clearance, locating, or attachment purposes.
• Threading: Forming threads on the part using wheels, taps, or dies.
• Trimming: Removing excess material from a partially or fully formed part along a certain trim line.

What are the Applications of Deep Drawn Metal in Different Industries?

The deep-drawn metal stamping process is extensively used across numerous sectors to manufacture seamless, hollow components with complex shapes. Some prominent examples include:

• Automotive Body Parts: Deep drawn components like door inners, oil pans, fuel tanks, and hoods form integral parts of automotive bodies and structural systems, leveraging the formability and dimensional accuracy of the process.
• Bathtubs: The seamless one-piece construction of deep drawn bathtubs avoids leak points and provides superior rigidity.
• Cooking Pots and Pans: Common kitchenware like pots, pans, and cooking utensils rely on deep drawing to achieve their familiar shapes from food-grade materials.
• Sinks: Deep drawn stainless steel sinks offer corrosion resistance and durability, with seamless designs lending themselves well to plumbing fixtures.
• Yogurt Cups: The cost-effective high-volume production of deep drawn aluminum cups is an ideal solution for packaging foods like yogurt.
• Plastic Buckets and Drums: While traditionally coming with metals, deep drawing can also produce large hollow plastic parts for containers.
• Faucets: The complexity possible with deep drawn shapes enables intricate faucet body designs from copper, brass, and other alloys.
• Soda and Beer Cans: The humble aluminum beverage can use deep drawing to create its cylindrical body from a coiled aluminum strip.
• Fuel Tanks: Deep-drawn tanks’ leak-proof nature is strong, which is suitable for vehicle fuel systems.

Deep Drawn Metal Components from Fischer ASIA

Deep draw metal stamping brings many advantages in creating high-precision metal components in a cost-effective way. Understanding the principles of this process and implementing the right techniques will help you take the most of it for your applications. What you can do is select the appropriate materials, optimize your tooling design, and partner with an experienced manufacturer like Fischer ASIA.

Fischer ASIA specializes in producing customized metal stamping and deep drawn components, aiming to create the best final products based on your specific requests. The extensive material selection standards and state-of-the-art press technology allow us to cater to the most demanding project requirements. In addition, the mix of hydraulic, mechanical, pneumatic presses and a laser focus on process design and evaluation will ensure tight tolerances and superior finish quality.

If you are looking for a reliable partner to produce the best metal stamping needs, contact Fischer ASIA today!

FAQs

1. What are the best metals for deep-drawn stamping?

The best metals for deep drawing have good ductility and formability, such as aluminum alloys (1100, 3003, 5052), mild and stainless steels, copper alloys, and brass alloys. The specific alloy depends on the application’s requirements.

2. What are the difference between deep drawing and normal stamping?

• Depth: Deep drawing involves forming parts with higher depth than the blank diameter, while shallow stamping has lower depth-to-diameter ratios.
• Shape: Deep drawing primarily produces hollow, cup-shaped geometries, whereas shallow stamping can create a wider variety of open shapes.
• Stretching: Significant material stretching occurs in deep drawing to form the part depth, while stretching is less in shallow stamping.
• Process: Deep drawing typically employs staged drawing operations with intermediate annealing for complex shapes. Shallow stamping is often a single-stage process.

3. What are the challenges in deep draw stamping, and how can they be addressed?

Some key challenges in deep draw stamping include managing material formability to avoid defects like wrinkling, tearing, or excessive thinning, ensuring dimensional accuracy over the drawn part geometry, maintaining good surface quality, and producing seamless parts with complex features like ribs, beads, or irregular shapes.

With extensive experience, leading-edge facilities, and a laser focus on quality, Fischer ASIA is well-equipped to navigate the challenges of deep draw metal stamping for even the most demanding applications.