On the Influence of Different Parameters on the Characteristic Cutting Surface when Shear Cutting Aluminum

Abstract When shear cutting aluminum, often small particles – the so-called sliver – are generated, which are ripped out from the sheared zone of the material during the shear cutting process. These loose particles can do considerable harm within the ongoing production processes. The impacts range from a significant increase in the component reject rate, mechanical damage of the shear cutting and forming tools up to a machine breakdown and thus, in general, heavily compromise the process robustness and reliability. Within this research, the sliver occurrence is physically motivated and a relation to the characteristic cutting surface appearance is established, in particular the clean-shear and the burr are of main interest. A detailed sensitivity analysis of various shear cutting process parameters is part of this study. Experiments are conducted for a full-edged shear cutting process along an open cutting line for a 6xxx aluminum alloy. The influencing parameters are studied in detail in order to enable an optimized process parameter configuration for the investigated material. For the evaluation of the conducted experiments, part and process characteristics are considered to ensure a holistic examination of the induced changes due to the varying process parameters. Therefore, besides an analysis of the material hardness in the sheared zone and the occurring cutting forces and their parameter-dependent variation, cutting surface characteristics are determined by tactile measurement.