Use of Monocrystalline Silicon as Tool Material for Highly Accurate Blanking of Thin Metal Foils

Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing

Merklein

2015

The trend toward miniaturization of metallic microparts results in the need of high-precision production methods. Major challenges are, for example, downsizing of tools and adequate positioning accuracy within blanking. Starting from a novel approach for tool miniaturization and its realization, the aim of this study is showing the assessment of tool sensitivity against process errors. Etched silicon punches were used for blanking copper foils, where outbreaks occurred at the cutting edge. Hence, tool stresses during blanking were analyzed by finite element (FE) method in dependency of defined positioning and process errors and evaluated concerning tool stresses and sheared edge quality.

Influence of Process Errors on the Tool Load in Microblanking of Thin Metal Foils With Silicon Punches

Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing

Merklein

2015

Tool Load Sensitivity Against Multidimensional Process Influences in Microblanking of Copper Foils With Silicon Punches

Michalski

Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering

et al. 2016

The continuous trend toward miniaturization of metallic microparts of high quality at low costs results in the need of appropriate production methods. Mechanical manufacturing processes like forming and blanking meet these demands. One major challenge for the application of them are the so-called size effects. Especially, the downsizing of the required manufacturing tools and adequate positioning cause higher effort with increasing miniaturization. One promising approach for downsizing of tools is the transfer of knowledge from microsystems technology. This study shows the process behavior of etched silicon punches in microblanking operations. For the application as tool material especially, the brittle material behavior and sensitivity against tensile stresses have to be considered. These mechanical loads favor wear in form of cracks and breaks at the cutting edge of the punch and thus decreasing tool life. In a special test rig these wear phenomena were observed in microblanking of copper foils. Although, high positioning accuracy between tools and workpiece can be assured within this test rig, scatter of tool life is observable. Therefore, a finite element (FE) analysis of the tool load in the microblanking process with special respect to tensile stresses was performed. Within the 3D FE model multidimensional positioning errors like tilting between punch and die were integrated. Their influence on the tool load in form of increasing tensile stresses is evaluated with respect to the type and magnitude of positioning error and verified by experimental results concerning wear. Furthermore, the effect of small outbreaks at the cutting edge on the process behavior and tool load is analyzed.

Tool Load Sensitivity Against Multidimensional Process Influences in Microblanking of Thin Metal Foils With Silicon Punches

Michalski

et al. 2015

Volume 1: Processing

The continuous trend towards miniaturization of metallic micro parts of high quality at low costs results in the need of appropriate production methods. Mechanical manufacturing processes like forming and blanking meet these demands. One major challenge for the application of them are so called size effects. Especially the downsizing of the required manufacturing tools and adequate positioning causes higher effort with increasing miniaturization. One promising approach for downsizing of tools is the transfer of knowledge from microsystems technology. This study shows the process behavior of etched silicon punches in microblanking operations. For the application as tool material especially the brittle material behavior and sensitivity against tensile stresses have to be considered. These mechanical loads favor wear in form of cracks and breaks at the cutting edge of the punch and decrease tool life. In a special test rig these wear phenomena were observed in microblanking of copper foils. Although high positioning accuracy between tools and workpiece can be assured within this test rig, scatter of tool life is observable. Therefore, a finite element analysis of the tool load in the microblanking process with special respect to tensile stresses was performed. Within the 3D finite element model multidimensional positioning errors like tilting between punch and die were integrated. Their influence on the tool load in form of increasing tensile stresses is evaluated with respect to the type and magnitude of positioning error. Furthermore, the effects of small outbreaks at the cutting edge on the process behavior and tool load are analyzed.