About Precision Metal Stamping

Precision metal stamping sounds like a difficult process to describe. The main goal of this article is to simplify the intricate details of this process. The topics of this article will include describing what precision metal stamping is and how it works, the types of materials used for the stampings, what types of equipment is involved in the process, the five main techniques used to create the stamping impressions and what types of products can be created using precision metal stamping. 

The definition of precision metal stamping is simply the process of creating lettering, three-dimensional parts and other surface definitions onto metal surfaces. The stamping works by using extreme pressure to force various forms and dies onto the metal materials. When the stamp is removed, the lettering, forms and dies are immutably engraved onto the metal. Stamping can be performed on a number of different materials (such as cement or plastic) however; the most ordinary stamping material is metal. Some of the more common types of metal that receive stampings include copper, aluminum, steel, titanium and alloys. 

There are numerous types of equipment used in precision metal stamping varying from a simple manual press to a more engineered and computerized die processor. Some of the more complicated processors involve multiple stages of pressing throughout the fabrication of the item. Some of the more engineered models can stamp with speeds up to an impressive 1,200 strokes every 60-seconds. The size of the equipment may be as large as 600 tons. 

There are five main techniques used in precision metal stamping. These techniques include fourslide and multislide stamping, deep drawing, fine blanking and wireforming. The fourslide and multislide stamping both incorporate horizontal die presses from numerous directions, either synchronously or consecutively. The result of this stamping technique is impressions on many (or all sides) of the metal material. The deep drawing technique is used to create impressions of depth using a punch. Usually the depth is in excess of the width (for example, a cup created from a piece of flat metal). The fine blanking technique involves the metal material being sheared smoothly throughout the entire depth of the material. The wireforming technique stamps metal into wire" shapes, such as springs, clips, rings or specialty pins. There are other techniques used, but these five are the most common that manufacturers use to produce metal stamping products. 

In metal stamping development, stamping process planning plays quite an important role for the related die design. As mentioned in Part-I [Feature-based metal stamping part and process design. Part 1: stampability evaluation, 2007, 45, 2673-2695], the feature can encapsulate comprehensive engineering information; this paper proposes to realize stamping process planning based on feature mapping. A feature mapping system, between a stamping design feature space and a stamping process feature space, has been presented. 

The inherent mechanism of such feature mapping has been investigated with formal representations. The substance of feature mapping is the processing of related knowledge and information. Mapping rules are established to generate the stamping operation and stamping direction. Four mapping manners (direct mapping, conjugate mapping, syncretic mapping, and sequential mapping) are presented for generating the form of process feature, through geometrical information transformation from design features. Meanwhile, considering a stamping process plan as an ordered tree, this paper has introduced how to build a stamping process plan through organizing the stamping operations mapped from design features, and an illustrative example is demonstrated. 

The final product of precision metal stamping can be something as simple as a clip, spring or metal ring. The process of stamping is also used to create more complex items, such as telecommunications and appliances.