Material variation in sheet metal can cause several problems when forming, including cracking, wrinkling, and springback. The key to minimizing these problems is to evaluate your material before production, gather the relevant data, and work within your variability parameters.
Accurately assessing the formability of a new or challenging material is not always easy, but it can be achieved. To help you understand how to evaluate your sheet metal, EWI Forming Center engineers Tom Feister and Laura Zoller have written The EWI Guide to Formability of New and Sophisticated Materials. This overview of best practices is available to download at no charge from EWI.
The EWI Forming Center helps manufacturers determine material formability and can provide recommendations for lubricants, coatings, and process parameters. For more information, contact [email protected] or call 614.688.5152.