This study is focussed on the evaluation of ductile fracture methodologies, which are needed to predict product shapes in the blanking process. In an earlier publication [Goijaerts et al., J. Manuf. Sci. Eng., Trans. ASME 122 (2000) 476], two approaches were elaborated using local ductile fracture models. The ®rst strategy incorporates the characterisation of a ductile fracture model in a blanking experiment. The second methodology is more favourable for industry. In this approach, instead of a complex and elaborate blanking experiment, a tensile test is used to characterise a newly proposed criterion, which was shown to predict accurately the ductile fracture for different loading conditions. In this paper, ®nite element simulations and experiments are performed on both tensile testing and blanking to evaluate the validity of both approaches with corresponding criteria for ®ve different metals. In the blanking process, different clearances as well as different cutting radii of the tools are considered. In conclusion, it can be stated that the ®rst approach gives very good results close to, or within the experimental error for all ®ve materials. The second approach, the more favourable one for industry, yields good results that deviate slightly more over the range of metals. #