The Bullet Press is a precision electromagnetic accelerator. Powered by a microprocessor control
that energizes the accelerator, the tooling is rapidly accelerated towards the die. The control, measuring the tool velocity, precisely regulates the speed. The driving force is disconnected just before the punch impacts the material. The kinetic energy in the moving tool is converted to work as the tool cuts the material. Any unused energy at the end of the stroke is absorbed by special urethane stops that, aided by adjustable return springs, return the tool holder and the accelerator to their initial positions. The amount of energy generated is substantial consider that a 20 lb tool accelerated to 160 in/sec produces over 660 in/lbs. of work. That is equivalent 33 tons of force when cutting .010 thick material or 11 tons when cutting .030. Calculating the force required for any application is straight forward. Force required (lbs) = length of cut (in) x material shear strength (psi) x thickness (in) Energy required (in/lbs) = Force required (lbs) x thickness (in) To calculate the energy required simply multiply force required by the thickness of the material. The energy available using a single actuator is 770 (in/lbs.). Adding additional actuators increase the energy or throughput of the system. Generally we want to keep the tool weight as low as possible, consistent with providing the energy to do the work required. Once the ideal velocity is determined calculating the desired tool weight and the energy required is straight forward. Cutting any material causes heat energy to be generated in the shear or cutting zone. In a conventional press system most of this heat energy is transferred to the cutting tool and the material being cut. As the speed of the cutting tool is increased the heat energy has less time to move into the material and cutting tool causing the temperature in shear zone to increase rapidly. If we continue to increase the speed of the tool we reach a point where none of the heat energy generated has time to leave the shear zone. When this happens, the stamping process is called adiabatic, meaning no heat leaves the process while being cut. The resulting increased temperature in the narrow shear or cutting zone dramatically reduces the force required to cut the material. The tool velocity necessary to produce the adiabatic effect is dependent on the material and tool clearances. Materials with higher thermal Adiabatic Stamping Explained Netronics Research & Development, Ltd - 333 Litchfield Road, New Milford, CT 06776 USA - 860-355-2659 conductivity generally require higher tool speeds to be adiabatic. To obtain the optimum results the material must be tested at various tool velocities and clearances. Click here to view presentation about the benefits of adiabtic Stamping