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In industrial production,blanking is an important metal forming processand is widely used in many fields such as automobile manufacturing, electronic appliances, aerospace, and daily necessities manufacturing. It refers to a process that uses the punch and die in the mold to exert pressure on the metal sheet or other materials placed between them, and separate the materials according to a predetermined shape and size through shearing. This article will introduce in detail the basic principles, process characteristics, applications anddevelopment trends of blanking.

What Is Blanking？

Blanking is the process of punching out specifically shaped partsfrom sheets or strips of raw materials such as steel,stainless steel and aluminum. The stamped part is a blank; it is a product, not a by-product of the process. This is a method of quickly producing many identical parts that may require additional finishing processes to smooth out burrs on the bottom edges of the blanked parts.

Manufacturers can use different types of machines to complete this process. These machines include punch presses, molds andCNC machines.After the equipment configuration is completed, the raw materials are fed into the punching machine, usually multiple sheets at a time. Since the blanks are identical, the production process is simple and cost-effective, requiring few adjustments to machines or materials. Because of the simplicity of the process, tight tolerances can be achieved.

How Does the Blanking Process Work?

Blanking is a complex but orderly process. The blanking process mainly includes the following core steps:

Process	Description
Material preparation	Select and prepare plates or coils that meet the requirements to ensure that the thickness, hardness, surface quality, etc. of the material meet the blanking needs.
Mold installation and debugging	Correctly install the designed punching mold (including punch mold and concave mold) on the punch machine, and perform necessary debugging to ensure that the mold gap, positioning, etc. are accurate.
Feeding and positioning	Feed the material into the punch working area and position it accurately through automatic or manual methods to ensure accurate punching position.
Stamping	Start the punch machine to make the punch act on the material at a certain speed and pressure. Through the shearing action of the mold, the material is separated along the predetermined contour line to form the required blanking parts and waste materials.
Discharge and collection	After the blanking is completed, the blanking parts and waste materials are discharged from the mold and collected in categories.
Quality inspection	Conduct appearance quality inspection on the blanked parts, including size, shape, cut surface quality, etc., to ensure that they meet the design requirements.
Follow-up processing	According to specific needs, follow-up processing such as deburring, cleaning, and rust prevention will be performed on the blanked parts.

What Are the Key Features of Blanking?

The maincharacteristics of blankingcan be summarized as follows:

• High precision:Blanking can produce parts with precise dimensionsand standardized shapes. The precise design and manufacturing of the mold, as well as the strict control during the blanking process, ensure the high precision of the blanked parts.
• High efficiency:The blanking process is suitable for mass production. Through automated equipment and continuous operations, production efficiency can be significantly improved. At the same time, the material utilization rate during theblanking processis also relatively high, reducing waste and further improving production efficiency.
• Wide applicability:Blanking is suitable for various metal materials, including steel plates, aluminum plates, copper plates, etc. By adjusting the mold and blanking parameters, the physical and chemical properties of different materials can be adapted to achieve diversified blanking needs.
• Good economy:When the blanking process is used in mass production, the production cost is relatively low due to the reuse of molds and high material utilization. In addition, the high degree of automation of the blanking equipment reduces manual operations and further reduces production costs.
• Ease of automation and integration:Blanking equipmentusually has a high degree of automation and can be integrated with other production equipment to form a complete production line. This helps to automate and intelligentize the production process and improve production efficiency and product quality.

What Materials Are Commonly Used in Blanking?

Blanking is a common metalworking methodused to punch out parts of the desired shape from sheet metal. The following are several commonly used materials for blanking and their characteristics:

1.Aluminum

• Features:Aluminum is a lightweight metalwith good plasticity and toughness, and is easy to process and shape. At the same time, aluminum has good corrosion resistance and is suitable for a variety of environments.
• Application:In the blanking process, aluminum is often used to manufacture lightweight parts and structural parts, such as components in the aerospace field, automobile body panels, and casings of electronic products, etc.

2.Stainless steel

• Features:Stainless steel has high hardness. When punching, the die punch needs to have high hardness and wear resistance, such as ASP-23, ASP60 and other powder high-speed steel punches. At the same time, stainless steel has poor plasticity and is prone to cracks and deformation during blanking. Reasonable design of the mold structure and blanking process is required.
• Application:Stainless steel is widely used in blanking due to its excellent corrosion resistance and mechanical properties, especially where high corrosion resistance and high strength are required.

3.Copper

• Features:Copper is relatively soft, and the mold wear is small during punching, but care needs to be taken to avoid burrs and deformation.
• Application:Copper and its alloys are also commonly used materials in blanking and are widely used in electrical, electronic and decoration fields due to their good electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and corrosion resistance.
• Type:Commonly used copper alloys include brass (copper-zinc alloy) and bronze (copper-tin alloy or copper-aluminum-silicon alloy, etc.). The drawing performance of brass is better than that of some pure copper materials.

4.Carbon steel

• Features:The blanking performance of carbon steelis greatly affected by the carbon content and heat treatment state. Low carbon steel is easy to punch and is not prone to cracks; high carbon steel requires appropriate heat treatment before punching to improve its plasticity and reduce hardness.
• Application:Carbon steel is one of the most commonly used materials in blanking and is widely used in the manufacture of various structural parts and components due to its high strength and low price.
• Types:Depending on the carbon content, carbon steel can be divided into low carbon steel, medium carbon steel and high carbon steel. Low carbon steel has good plasticity and punching properties and is suitable for punching parts with complex shapes; high carbon steel has higher hardness and is suitable for occasions that require higher strength and hardness.

5.Galvanized steel

• Features:The punching performance of plated steel is affected by the base material and galvanized layer. The strength and plasticity of the base material determine the shape and dimensional accuracy of the blanking parts; the galvanized layer needs to remain intact during the blanking process to avoid corrosion. At the same time, galvanized steel blanking dies need to have high hardness and wear resistance to cope with the wear of the galvanized layer.
• Application:Galvanized steel is a materialthat is coated with a layer of zinc on the surface of the steel plate to improve its corrosion resistance. In blanking, galvanized steel is widely used where high corrosion resistance is required.
• Type:According to different galvanizing methods, galvanized steel can be divided into electro-galvanized steel sheets (such as SECC) and hot-dip galvanized steel sheets (such as SGCC). Electro-galvanized steel sheets have better formability and paintability; hot-dip galvanized steel sheets have higher corrosion resistance.

FAQs

1.What is blanking in sheet metal?

Sheet metal blanking is a stamping processthat uses a die to separate part of the material (usually sheet metal) from another part of the material, workpiece or scrap. It is a general term for various separation processes such as shearing, blanking, punching, punching, and grooving. In sheet metal processing, blanking is a common processing method. The sheet metal material is punched through a mold to separate it according to a predetermined shape and size to obtain the required parts or components.

2.What materials are suitable for blanking?

Materials suitable for punching usually have good plasticity and toughness, and can avoid breakage or excessive deformation during thestamping process.Common materials suitable for blanking include: Steel plates: such as ordinary steel plates, stainless steel plates, galvanized plates, etc. These materials can maintain good shape and dimensional accuracy during the punching process. Copper plate: Copper plate has good electrical conductivity and ductility, and is suitable for manufacturing electrical components and decorations. Aluminum plate: Aluminum plate is light in weight and has good corrosion resistance. It is suitable for manufacturing parts in aerospace, automobile and construction industries. In addition, some alloy materials, such as titanium alloys, nickel alloys, etc., are also suitable for blanking processing, but reasonable selection needs to be made based on specific material properties and processing requirements.

3.What industries use blanking?

Theblanking process is widely used in multiple industries, including but not limited to: Automotive manufacturing: Blanking is used to produce various body parts, frames, and engine parts. Home appliance manufacturing industry: Blanking is used to produce various casings and structural parts, such as washing machine casings, refrigerator side panels, etc. Electronics industry: Blanking is used to produce pins, connectors, and circuit boards for various electronic components. Aerospace field: Blanking is used to manufacture some key parts, such as certain structural parts and engine parts on aircraft. Medical device industry: Blanking is used to manufacture parts of some medical devices, such as surgical instruments, medical equipment, etc.

4.What are the advantages of blanking?

The mainadvantages of the blanking processare: ① High production efficiency: The blanking process can quickly complete the processing and production of a large number of parts, improving production efficiency. ② High precision: The blanking process can ensure the dimensional accuracy and shape accuracy of the parts and meet the processing needs of various high-precision parts. ③High material utilization rate: The blanking process can achieve less or no cutting through reasonable mold design and layout, thereby saving a large amount of metal materials and improving material utilization rate. ④ Low cost: The blanking process uses molds for processing, which can save a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, and reduce production costs. ⑤ Easy to realize automation and mechanization: The blanking process is easy to realize mechanization and automation in mass production, further improving labor productivity.

Summary

As an important metal forming process,blanking plays a decisive role in industrial production. With the continuous advancement and innovation of technology, the blanking process will develop in the direction of higher precision, higher efficiency, more energy saving and environmental protection, providing better and more efficient services for industrial production.

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