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2016
Conference Paper
Titel
Lifetime increase of tools for fine blanking of steel sheet
Abstract
In order to improve the lifetime of blanking tools, the application of high quality steel, heat treatment and coatings has become an interesting issue for many European companies dealing with stamping, punching and blanking operations. Important trends such as a longer life time, a higher accuracy and a higher complexity of the products are challenging and require more special materials and techniques. The technological solutions to improve the existing processes are not obvious because of the amount of possibilities in available materials, heat and surface treatments for the envisaged industrial processes and applications. An in-depth research to understand the manufacturing processes with the consequence of an increased performance and lifetime of the tools as well as the opportunity of further optimisation was the main goal of this project. The punches studied in this paper were not coated. However, the ever increasing production rate and the use of high strength steel sheet can induce problems in the wear and fracture behaviour of blanking tools with low lifetimes as a consequence. This project studied the tribological synergy of the substrate-heat treatment-surface relationship and their influence on lifetime in heavy load conditions. A preliminary study was performed on the cutting edges of special designed triangular punches made of several high alloyed steels which were heat treated in a conventional way and by deep cryogenic treatment after quenching. After the research some demonstration tools were tested in industrial conditions to show the feasibility of certain selected combinations.