FEsimulationoftheblankingofelectricallyheatedengineeringmaterialsX.Peng,X.Lu,R.BalendraDesign,ManufactureandEngineeringManagement,UniversityofStrathclyde,JamesWeirBuilding,75MontroseStreet,GlasgowG11XJ,UKAbstractTheblankingofelectricallyheatedengineeringmaterialsissimulatedusingthecommerciallyavailablesoftware,ABAQUS:thetemperaturedistribution,the“thermal”punchforceandtheblankingforcefordifferentheatingconditionsareinvestigated.Electricalheatingprovidesanadvantageoustemperaturedistributionintheshear-zoneofthematerial,whichsubstantiallyreducesthemaximumpunchforceandenablesblankingwithlargeraspectratios.Electricalheatingcanbeachievedatasufficientlyrapidheatingrate,isflexiblewithreferencetosettingconditionsandmaybeeasilyincorporatedintoablankingtoolsystem,thuspromisingscopeforapplicationinanindustrialenvironment.©2003ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Electricalheating;Blanking;FEsimulation1.IntroductionBlankingwithlargeraspectratios(thickness/width)hasobjectiveintheelectronicsindustryforthelastdecade.Inspecificcases,anaspectratioof2hasbeenachieved;generally,however,suchratiosarenothasbeenachieved;generally,however,suchratiosarenotadoptedbyindustry.Largeaspectratiosresultinexcessivetoolloads,withconsequenttoolfailureordecreaseintoollife.Twoparametersdominatetheattempttouselargeaspectratios—thestrengthofthecurrentlyavailabletool-materialsandtheshearstrengthofthework-material.Ofthetwo,theelectronicsindustrywouldnaturallyopttoreducethelatterthantodevelophigh-strengthtool-materials.Anapproachforachievingthelatterisdescribedinthefollowingtext.Ingeneral,thestrengthofmetallicmaterialsdecreaseswiththeincreaseoftemperature.Thispropertyimpliesthatblankingathightemperaturecouldbeeffectedatlowerforce;fromthisitmaybeinferredthatblankingwithhigheraspectratiosmaybeachievediftheoperationisperformedathighertemperatures.Itisalsoaprospectthatblankingathighertemperaturesmayimpartabettersurfacetexturetotheshearededgeduetotheincreaseoftheductilityofmaterialswhichpreventso