Workpiece-Tool-Interaction in the Fine Blanking of Helical Gears

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Fritz Klocke
• Subject Area: Primary Shaping and Reshaping Technology, Additive Manufacturing
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 262723731

Fine blanking is a shearing process for the economic production of sheet metal parts with high quality requirements concerning the sheared surfaces and the geometric tolerances of the workpiece. Enhancing the tool kinematics, these advantages have been successfully applied to the production of helical gears by the applicant, together with an industry partner. Experiments showed that transferring the conventional process know-how to the new kinematics is not sufficient to guarantee a satisfying workpiece quality, since deficits occur concerning the quality of the sheared edges and the geometric precision of the fine blanked gears. These deficits are mainly due to an alteration of the material flow inside the workpiece as well as of tool loading and deflection during the rotational fine blanking process compared to conventional fine blanking. Both aspects are strongly determined by the tool geometry, the V-ring force and the counterpunch force as well as by the position and the geometry of the V-ring as most important process parameters. In this project the influence of the factors named above on workpiece quality is investigated with a focus on the interactions between tool deflection and material flow inside the workpiece. The developed process model explains the cause-and-effect chains determining workpiece quality in the rotational fine blanking of helical gears and thus enables a knowledge based process design.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants