Metal Shear forming of light-gauge sheet

Differentiating from multi-pass spinning, metal shear forming produces the final component shape in a single roller pass. Thin-gauge metals commonly used in spinning can be easily shear formed using a single metal spinning roller. For this reason, metal shear forming techniques are often combined with metal spinning techniques. Shear forming comes under the heading of flow forming, technically.

Metal shear forming is commonly applied to the production of metal spun cones or parts of variable angular shape. The roller gap is manipulated so that the spun metal is displaced parallel to the axis it rotates around. The wall thickness decrease is subject to the sine law – in other words it’s dependent on the inclined angle (angle of shear) and considering that no radial material flow occurs, the unformed zone remains stress-free, meaning there is no tendency towards buckling. Due to this stress-free zone, non-circular blanks can be shear formed.

Metal shear forming and multi-pass metal spinning are combined in many cases where it is acceptable to diminish the wall thickness in precise areas in accordance with the sine law.