Local Thickening in Precision Stamping

Locally increasing wall thickness can strengthen a one-piece stamping and remove washers, welds and excess material.

What is local thickening?

Local thickening is an integrated forming method that moves material into a selected area so one component can contain both thin and thick sections. The reinforced area can improve strength and durability without increasing the gauge of the entire blank.

The technique also gives designers more freedom to create functional transitions and curved forms that would be difficult to obtain through conventional stamping alone.

A high-strength material example

Balford developed a multi-stage process that locally increased a high-strength material to approximately twice its original sheet thickness while controlling buckling, folding and cracking. In the formed region, work hardening increased strength to about 1.5 times that of the starting material.

The original assembly used a stamped cup, a separate washer and welding. Forming the thickened feature directly into the cup converted the design into a single stamped component.

Three ways the process can reduce cost

1. Less material: only the area that needs additional strength is thickened, so the whole part does not require heavier sheet.
2. Fewer operations: washers, welding, riveting or secondary rolling may be eliminated.
3. Lower weight: targeted reinforcement balances strength and mass, reducing material and transport impact.

Forming control

High-strength sheet has lower ductility and creates greater forming load than conventional steel. Dividing material movement across several calculated stages is essential to prevent fracture and unwanted folds.

Tooling simulation, die development and controlled tryout are used to establish a repeatable production window before volume manufacture.

A practical route to part consolidation

Local thickening is most valuable when the current design carries extra gauge everywhere or joins several elements only to reinforce one location. Balford can review the assembly and assess whether a one-piece precision stamping can meet the same functional requirement.