Effects of blanking speed on the shear surface of mild steel (St37)

Abstract

Blanking operation is widely used to cut sheet or plates by a shearing process between punch and die. The process of shearing and the conditions of the sheared surface are influenced by the punch, the die, the speed of punching, the clearance between the punch and the die. In this study, effects of high speed blanking on surface quality and corrosion properties of mild steel St37 shear surface have been investigated. The work presented in this paper aims at evaluating the shear surface quality improvements of the St37 resulting from the use of high energy rate forging machine. The appraisal is based on criteria related to surface accuracy and corrosion resistance characterization. For this purpose, St37 mild steels were cut using three different punch speeds hydraulic presses at nearly quasistatic, conventional mechanical presses at low punch velocity (0.2 m/s) and high energy rate forging machine at high punch velocity (10 m/s), for different die clearances (4.5%-6% of sheet thickness). After accelerated corrosion tests, blanks were performed in conjunction with scanning electron microscopy technique to study the cutting process of the blanks at room temperature. In fact, by using high energy rate forging machine, a reduction of more than 25% of the surface roughness (R-a) was realized and better resistance to stress corrosion cracking and pitting corrosion was noticed. It was observed that the corrosion resistance of the high energy rate forging-cut specimen was better than that of the hydraulic-cut and mechanical-cut specimens.