Seaming lighter cans without wrinkles

Over the past decade, progress in the weight reduction of 70mm diameter three-piece food cans has stalled because of the problem of wrinkling of cans during seaming. This issue has tended to occur when the gauge of tinplate ends manufactured from higher strength steels is reduced below a certain thickness. To resolve this problem, the Research Association for Steel Application (FOSTA), based in Düsseldorf, Germany commissioned a research project,** which was carried out at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology - IWU at Chemnitz in Saxony, eastern Germany.