Stamping is a pressure-based manufacturing method in which a stamping die is used on a press to apply force to a material at room temperature, causing it to undergo plastic deformation or separation to achieve the desired shape and dimensions. This process is commonly referred to as cold stamping.
Stamping dies are the tooling used to transform materials into finished parts or semi-finished products; they are essential equipment in industrial production. Production using stamping dies utilizes rolled steel sheets or strips-mass-produced by metallurgical plants-as raw material. Since no heating is required during the process, it offers advantages such as high production efficiency, high quality, low weight, and low cost. Cold-stamped products are ubiquitous in aircraft, automobiles, tractors, electric motors, electrical appliances, instruments, meters, and everyday consumer goods-examples include stainless steel lunchboxes, serving trays, beverage cans, automotive body panels, bullet casings, and aircraft skin panels. Incomplete statistics indicate that stamped parts account for approximately 60% of components in the automotive and tractor industries, 85% in the electronics industry, and 90% in household hardware products.
A press is a machine used to apply pressure to material placed within a die to perform the forming process. The presses most commonly used for stamping operations are mechanical presses and hydraulic presses.
A stamped part often requires multiple processing steps to complete. While the specific stamping operations vary depending on factors such as the part's shape, dimensional precision, production volume, and raw material, they can generally be categorized into two main types: separation processes and forming processes.
Separation processes: Operations that separate the stamped part from the sheet metal along a specific contour line. Examples include cutting off, punching, blanking, slitting, and trimming.
Forming processes: Operations in which the material undergoes plastic deformation without fracturing, resulting in a part that meets specific requirements for shape, dimensions, and precision. Examples include bending, deep drawing, flanging, bulging, and sizing (coining).