48. SHEET METAL FABRICATION

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Sheet metal typically begins as sheets, but after undergoing cutting, bending, stamping and welding operations it takes on useful engineering forms.

Sheet metal has become a significant material for,

- automotive bodies and frames,

- office furniture

- frames for home appliances

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Sheets are popular materials because the sheets themselves are easy to produce, and the subsequent operations can be performed easily. The major operations typically include,

bending - an angle is used to create non-parallel faces

punching/shearing/blanking - a major portion of the material is cut off by putting the material in shear.

forming -

spinning -

stamping -

embossing -