High speed blanking: An experimental method to calculate the induced cutting forces

Abstract
To increase the productivity, blanking professionals are interested to control a new machining process that involves the high speed cutting at around 10 m/s. Nevertheless, the inherent hard dynamic of such a process makes it difficult to develop a high speed punch press. The cracking or fracture phenomenon governing the cutting process has to be well understood in order to correctly design the machine support and the tools. In order to observe this phenomenon and to control the cutting speed a specific experimental device has been developed. In this study, the goal is to calculate the shear cutting forces imposed on the specimen. A new method allowing the calculation of shear forces and taking the proposed test configuration into account is explained and is validated through numerical simulation. This technique has been successfully implemented for the determination of shear forces of a micro alloy steel S600M.