Bending and Shearing Operations in Progressive Dies

This research aims to study the use of a superimposition scheme to quickly plan the sequence in a progressive die design for a sheet metal part which contains bending and shearing features, and to determine the better ones among multiple feasible solutions. The major problem of applying superimposition is that the possible solutions form an excessive solution space when multiple punches are used. In order to solve the problem, this research introduces the following three steps: preparation of strips, punch layout, and layout evaluation.