Shearing
Shearing
Shearing
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Shearing Process Summary
Shearing is a frequent metalworking unit process in manufacturing as a mass
separating step, which involves cutting or shearing metals, as well as plates, bars, tubing
of various cross sections without formation of chips. When the two cutting blades are
straight, the process is called shearing. In the separating step, portions of the workpiece
are separated from the workpiece. Hence this life cycle inventory is to establish
representative estimates of the energy usage from the shearing unit process in the context
of manufacturing operations for products. The shearing process is used as the preliminary
step in preparing stock for stamping processes, or smaller blanks for CNC presses, Figure
MR2-1. The shearing unit process life cycle inventory (uplci) profile is for a high
production manufacturing operation, defined as the use of processes that generally have
high automation and are at the medium to high throughput production compared to all
other machines that perform a similar operation. This is consistent with the life cycle goal
of estimating energy use and mass losses representative of efficient product
manufacturing.
Straight-blade shearing is used for squaring and cutting flat stock to a required
shape and size. In straight-blade shearing, the work metal is placed between the
stationary lower blade and a movable upper blade. As the upper blade is forced down, the
work metal is penetrated to a specific portion of the thickness, after which the
unpenetrated portion fractures and the work metal separates Figure MR2.2. Usually the
clearance between the two blades is 5 to 10% of the thickness of the material, but is
dependent on the material. Clearance is defined as the vertical separation between the
blades, measured at the point where the cutting action takes place and perpendicular to
the direction of blade movement. It affects the finish of the cut (burr) and the machine
power consumption. This causes the material to experience highly localized shear stresses
between the two blades.
Figure MR2.1. Computer numerical control (CNC) shearing machine (Photograph from
Xinya Machine tool manufacture Co.Ltd, China)
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Figure MR2.2. Shearing Process Schematic (Todd et al., 1994)
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The transformation of input to output generates five lci characteristics,
a. Input materials
b. Energy required
c. Losses of materials (that may be subsequently recycled or declared waste)
d. Major machine and material variables relating inputs to outputs
e. Resulting characteristics of the output product that often enters the next unit process.
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6) Put workpieces away or rearrange them for other operation and typically sent
forward to another manufacturing unit process. This is at the level of Basic
Energy and is labeled Unloading.
The machine considered in this study is a hydraulic shear machine because the
degree of control is greater compared to other shear machines like mechanical, squaring
machines etc. Hydraulic machinery are machines and tools which use fluid power to do
work. Hydraulic shears are actuated by a motor driven pump that forces oil into a
cylinder against a piston; the movement of the piston energizes the ram holding the upper
knife. Hydraulic shears are designed with a fixed load capacity. This prevents the
operator from shearing material that exceeds capacity and, therefore, saves costly damage
to the machine structure; this is a basic advantage of hydraulic shear (ASM International,
2002). The hold-downs are the devices that hold the workpiece firmly in position to
prevent movement during shearing. The hold-down pressure must be greater than the
force generated in cutting the material. These forces depend on the knife clearance, rake
angle, and depth of material back piece. The back gages are adjustable stops that permit
reproducibility of dimensions of sheared workpieces in a production run. Most gages are
controlled electrically. The operating speeds of hydraulic shears are limited to speeds of
8-21 strokes per minute and capable of shearing a 1.5 inch plate up to 420 inch long.
Computer numerically control (CNC) system permits dimensional accuracy and
repeatability, increased productivity, and hands-off safe operations. For thin sheet,
magnetic overhead rollers eliminate sag and support the sheet for accurate gaging.
In this representative unit process, the life cycle characteristics can be determined
on a per shear basis or on a per piece basis if there are multiple shearing steps per piece.
Since this is a high production process, the start up (at the beginning of a batch or shift) is
deemed to be small and not included. In this uplci, there are three typical power levels
that will be used, Figure MR2.5. Correspondingly, there are times within the shearing
sequence from which these three power levels are used, Figure MR2.5.
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P Servo motor for axis
drive
Idle Energy
Tip Energy
Basic Energy
Ptotal
Pidle
Pbasic
tshearing
t
tidle
tbasic
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Table MR2.1
Machine Units and its functions
PC computer+control panel1
(screen etc) Machine operation basicControl Panel2 basic
(pedal with instruments)
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Shearing Energy
Shearing time (tshearing) and power (Pshearing) must be determined for the shearing
energy and it is calculated from the more important parameters given above.
Shearing setup is illustrated in Figure MR2.6. Actual shearing process time is the
thickness of the sheet metal divided by shear blade velocity (shear speed, mm/sec). In
order to shear a sheet metal, the blade must pass through the thickness of the workpiece.
This means the travel of the blade is more than the thickness of the sheet. Thus in actual
practice, we add the thickness of the sheet T to the length of approach and length of
shear to give overtravel for the calculation of total time.
Rake is the angular slope formed by the cutting edges of the upper and lower knives. It
has been found that increase in rake leads to a corresponding nearly linear decrease in
shearing force (Cincinnati, Inc and Hydrapower International, personal communications,
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2009). Thus the energy equation can be simplified, so that a rake angle does not have to
be specified. Thus the effective energy FS is dependent on S, P, and T as given in (4).
S * P * T 2 *12
P
Fs =
1- (4)
100 2
Where,
Fs = Shearing force lbf
S= shear strength of the sheet metal, Psi
T= stock thickness, in. and
P = penetration of knife into material, fraction of T (range 0 1)
For metric usage, the force is multiplied by 4.448 to obtain newtons (N).
Table MR2.2. Values of percent penetration and shear strength for various materials
(Kalpakjian, et al., 2008)
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Shearing force Fs for all non-straight tools in metalworking can be determined by:
Fs=LTS (for any shape cut)
Where L is sheared length, in inches (mm); T is material thickness, in inches (mm); S is
shear strength of material, in pounds per square inch (MPa); and D is diameter, in inches
(mm).
So for circular shear Fs=DTS (for round holes)
The product of force and the distance moved gives the energy associated with that
particular operation. Using the shearing force calculated in the above, we can estimate the
energy required to perform the operation by using the following:
E = Fs L (5)
With a given material to be sheared, shear strength given in Table MR2.2. Thus with only
the material to be sheared, the thickness of the workpiece, and the length of shear, one
can calculate the lci shearing energy per shear, equation 5. This then must be added to the
idle and basic energies, see below.
Idle Energy
Energy-consuming peripheral equipment included in idle power (Pidle) are shown
in Table MR2.1. The idle power characterizes the load case when there is relative
movement of the tool and the work-piece without separating the metal (e.g. axis
movement) - Handling. For shearing, the handling times are the air time of approach and
retraction after shearing. The idle time (tidle) is the sum of the handling time (thandling) and
the shearing time (calculated above as tshearing, equation 1), see Figure MR2.5. For
shearing machines, the handling times are the air time of approach and retraction after
shearing. We can calculate the handling times and energy as follows.
During the shearing process, the tool is considered to be at an offset of 6 times the
thickness above the work piece and so the approach distance is 6T. We also assume the
overtravel is 6T. Every time while shearing a sheet the blade comes down from a height
of 6T and again retracts back to an offset position after completing the shearing process
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with a vertical traverse speed (VTR). The approach and overtravel distance used here is
12 times the thickness of the sheet and so the shearing approach and overtravel time is
12*T/ V. While the retraction time may be longer than the shearing time, this is estimated
as the sum of the approach, overtravel, and shearing times. We use the machine retract
rate (mm/sec) and the approach and overtravel distances to establish the handling time. In
the handling time, the feeding time is also be added for continuous processes, but this
uplci is for the more common batch loading. From Figure MR2.6
Approach distance mm(in) = A
Overtravel distance mm(in) = O
Retract rate mm/sec (in/sec) = R
Feeding time = W/F for next cut
From these calculations the idle energy for shearing with a single shear cut is
The average idle power Pidle of automated CNC shearing machines is between
400 and 10,000 watt*. (* This information is from the CNC manufacturing companies,
see Appendix 1). Approximately Handling time will vary from 0.1 to 10 min.
Basic Energy
The basic energy of a shearing machine is the demand under running conditions in
stand-by mode. Energy-consuming peripheral equipment included in basic energy are
M1, M2 and PC from Table MR2.1. There is no relative movement between the tool and
the work-piece, but all components that accomplish the readiness for operation (e.g.
machine control unit (MCU), unloaded motors, servo motors, pumps) are still running at
no load power consumption. Most of the automated CNC shearing machines are not
switched off when not shearing and have a constant basic power. The average basic
power Pbasic of automated CNC machines is between 400 and 6,000 watt* (* From CNC
shearing machine manufacturing companies the basic power ranges from 1/8th to 1/4th of
the maximum machine power, see Manufacturers Reference Data in Appendix). The
largest consumer is the hydraulic power unit.
Ostwald, 1986 has shown that the time to load a blank or part into a machine and
then remove the part is proportional to the perimeter of the rectangle which surrounds the
part. This time can be given by t = 3.8 + 0.11 (L + W) (seconds)
Where L, W = rectangular envelope length and width, cm.
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In summary, the unit process life cycle inventory energy use is given by
This follows the power diagram in Figure MR2.5. With only the following information
the unit process life cycle energy for shearing can be estimated.
1. material of part being manufactured
2. Thickness of the sheet
3. Length of the shear
4. Table MR2.2
For ordinary shearing operations such as straight cutting, coolant oil is not
commonly used. Hydraulic shearing machines use fluid power to do work. In this
machine, high pressure liquid called hydraulic fluid is transmitted throughout the
machine to various hydraulic motors and hydraulic cylinders. In addition to transferring
energy, hydraulic fluid needs to lubricate components, suspend contaminants and metal
filings for transport to the filter, and to function well to several hundred degrees
Fahrenheit. Hydraulic fluid replacement occurs so infrequently that on a per shear or per
1,000 shear basis, this mass loss is neglected.
Lubricant oil is commonly (but not always) used on the metal surface in contact
with the knife. Lubricant is applied along the sheared line and then is some subsequent
processing step, it is removed before a final product is used. In order to link this mass
loss directly to shearing, it is included here. Note the energy or ancillary waste for
lubricant removal (solvent degreasing, rag wipe, etc) would be captured in the uplci of
those processes and only the lubricant mass is assigned to shearing. Lubricant applied and
removed is estimated (Madavan, Wichita State University, 2009, personal
communication) as 5cm width x L (cm) x (2.54/1000) cm thickness x 0.9 g/cm3 = 0.11
g/cm length of shear.
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large number of shear cuts between regrind and even longer between actual replacement
of the shearing blades, the shearing blade as is not included as a waste.
Table MR2.3. Service data for shear blades (ASM International, 2002).
mm HRC
Cold shearing of steel
Sheet metal Low-carbon steel 5 W2 58-60 30,000 cuts
Sheet metal Low-carbon steel 5 A2 58-60 55,000 cuts
Sheet metal Low-carbon steel 5 D2 58-60 100,000 cuts
Bar shear 1025 & 1040 steel 25 W2 58-60 20,000 cuts
Bar shear 1025 & 1040 steel 25 L6 40,000 cuts
Bar shear 1025 & 1040 steel 25 S5 100,000 cuts
Sheet and strip 1010 steel 5 D2 58-60 150,000 cuts
Sheet and strip Stainless steel 12 D2 58-60 65,000 cuts
Sheet 2 to 5% silicon steel 0.8 D2 58-60 45,000 cuts
Slitter carbon, silicon and galvanized 0.16-4 D2 58-60 1 week (a)
steels
Slitter Stainless steel 0.8-1.5 D2 58-60 15,000 ft
Blade 1.5 x 100 x 25 mm Stainless silicon steel 2-2.5 D2 60-62 2 weeks (b)
Cuts
Blades were reground weekly, with about 0.025 mm of stock being removed.
Maximum. Blades usually were changed weekly.
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Table MR2.4. Life of hard-faced blades for hot shearing of steel in a specific steel mill
(ASM International, 2002).
Steel for blade Blade life, tons of steel
Type of shear Hard facing alloy(a)
body sheared
Billet, 300 by 300 mm (12 1B new, 2B repair,
1030 cast 29,000
by 12 in.) 3A ribs
Billet, 250 by 250 mm (10
1030 forged 2B 5,800
by 10 in.)
None; inserts of H21
Billet duplex 1030 cast 26,000
or M2
Billet H21 None 3,584
Bloomer, 1 m (40 in.) 1045 plate 1B new, 2B repair 7,680
Bloomer, 1.1 m (44 in.) 1045 plate 1B 87,000
Slab, 900 mm (36 in.) 1045 plate 1B 71,000
Plate 6150 (mod) None 6,000
Rail, 250 by 250 mm (10 1B new, 2B repair,
1030 cast 12,960
by 10 in.) 3A ribs
Rail 1045 plate 2B 5,400
Billet 1045 plate 2B 10,800
(a) Nominal compositions. Alloy 1B: 0.5 C, 0.9 Si, 4.75 Cr, 1.2 W, 1.4 Mo, rem Fe. Alloy
2B: 0.75 C, 0. 5 Mn, 0.65 Si, 4 Cr, 1 V, 1.2 W, 8 Mo, rem Fe. Alloy 3A: 3 C, 1 Si, 28 Cr,
4 Mo, rem Fe
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Product Details
For this example we are assuming a steel sheet (0.1 Carbon cold worked) as the
work piece. The work piece is of sheet-metal part of 0.25 X 120 X0.8 (T x L x W) in. has
a shear strength of 43,000 psi. The steel chart also tells us for this grade steel the
elongation factor is 38%.
The term rake is used to designate the angel of the upper blade and is usually expressed
in inches per foot. A 1/4-inch rake means that the upper blade slopes at a rate of 1/4
inches per foot of length. The objective of the study is to analyze the energy consumption
in shearing machine.
Process Parameters
The shearing conditions and the process parameters are listed in Table MR2.6.
Shearing process
The total processing time can be divided into the 3 sub groups of basic time (Load
and Unload), idle time (Handling), and shearing time.
Shearing time:
The time for shearing is determined by
ts = (T)/V (sec)
Where V is the Shear blade speed in mm/sec, and T is the thickness in mm.
T = 0.25 in
V = 0.28 in/sec
Time to shear will be,
ts = (0.25)/ 0.28
= 0.9 sec/shear
Energy required for each shear,
E = L * Fs
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The force required for shearing a 0.135 in thick and 120 inch long of a steel sheet (0.1
Carbon cold worked) can be estimated using the following calculation:
S * P *T 2 P
Fs = 1 -
R 2
Fs = 43,000 * (0.38) * (0.25)2 *12 * (1-0.38/2) = 39,706 lb or 176.62 kN
0.25
Shearing energy for each shear
E = 39,706 * 120 = 47,64,720 inch-lbf or 538.34 kJ
Power required P = Fs * V
= 39,706 * 0.28 = 11,117.68 in-lb/sec or 1.26 kW
Idle Time:
Handling Time:
The air time for shearing is approach, feeding and retracts time
Approach time = 0.7/3.15 = 0.225 sec
Retracts time = 18 + D /60 = 25.5/60 = 0.425 sec
Total air time = 0.65 sec
Total idle time = tshearing + tair
= 0.65+0.9 = 1.55 sec
Idle power from Appendix 1 can be assumed as = 2.5 kW
Idle energy = 2.5 * 1.55 = 3.875 kJ/shear
Basic time:
Loading and unloading time t = 3.8 + 0.11 (L + W)
= 3.8 + 0.11 (304.8 + 2)
= 37.55 sec
Pbasic = 1.25 kW
Ebasic = Pbasic * ttotal
ttotal = tbasic + tidle = 37.55 + 1.55 = 39 sec
Ebasic = 1.25 * 39 = 48.75 kJ
Etotal = 538.34 + 3.875 + 48.75 = 590.96 kJ
Summary:
This report presented the models, approaches, and measures used to represent the
environmental life cycle of shearing unit operations referred to as the unit process life
cycle inventory. The four major environmental-based results are energy consumption,
shearing process, lubricant oil, and cutting tool. Calculations for product manufacturing
are presented, based on knowing only the cutting length, number of cutting, and the
material sheared. The life cycle of shearing is based on a typical high production scenario
(on a CNC shearing machine) to reflect industrial manufacturing practices. The energy
can be calculated from a basic list of variables, likely to be known for each part to be
brake formed
1. material of part being sheared and Table MR2.2
2. thickness of the material
3. length of the sheet to be sheared
4. Shearing speed, using representative manufacturers values
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References Cited
Appendices
The methodology that has been followed for collecting technical information
on CNC machines has been largely based in the following:
The documentation of the CNC shearing machine and the technical
assistances collected from the manufacturing companies through internet. The
shearing machines are brakeforming machines with a change in the moving tool and
so the same machine data as brakeforming is included here. Several interviews with
the service personnel of the different CNC manufacturing companies have been
carried out. After collecting the information from the different companies it has been
put together in the relevant document that describes the different approaches the
different companies have regarding the technical information on the CNC shearing
machine. Telephone conversations allowed us to learn more about basic power and
idle power. Companies that involved in our telephone conversations are Baileigh,
Ronmack, Trumpf, and Cincinnati. These companies manufacture different sizes of
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CNC machines, but this report shows the lower, mid and highest level of sizes. For
our case study we picked machine at the highest-level.
Specifications BAILEIGH
Model Number BP-3360 BP-5060 BP-9078
Shearing force, kN 330 500 900
Approach Speed, 80 80 80
mm/sec
Shearing Speed, mm/sec 7 7 7
Return Speed, mm/sec 60 60 60
Main motor, kW 2.2 3.7 7.4
Motor 2, kW 0.4 0.4 0.4
3 Axes motor 0.75 0.75 0.75
output(X,Y,Z), kW
Specifications RONMACK
Model Number RM-2050 RM-3100 RM-8000
Shearing force, kN 600 1500 5000
Approach Speed, 120 120 120
mm/sec
Shearing Speed, mm/sec 9 9 9
Return Speed, mm/sec 100 80 80
Main motor, kW 5.5 11 37
Motor 2, kW 1 1 1
3 Axes motor 1 1 1
output(X,Y,Z), kW
Specifications TRUMPF
Model Number TB V-50 TB V-130 TB V-320
Shearing force, kN 560 1440 3570
Approach Speed, 150 150 150
mm/sec
Shearing Speed, mm/sec 12 12 12
Return Speed, mm/sec 120 120 120
Main motor, kW 6 18 35
Motor 2, kW 1 1 1
3 Axes motor 1 1 1
output(X,Y,Z), kW
Specifications CINCINNATI
Model Number 90MX6 175MX10 350MX12
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Shearing force, kN 500 1200 4000
Approach Speed, 300 275 250
mm/sec
Shearing Speed, mm/sec 30 25 20
Return Speed, mm/sec 200 180 150
Main motor, kW 15 20 25
Motor 2, kW 2 2 2
3 Axes motor 1 1 1
output(X,Y,Z), kW
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