High-precision deep-drawn parts from the technology leader


Deep drawing is our company's original core area of expertise. We have decades of experience in this field, and are continuously striving to develop innovative concepts and deep-drawn parts with the highest precision, giving our customers the kind of solutions that only industry leaders can provide. Research and development are just as essential for establishing new products as is consistent investments in presses and machines. At STÜKEN, we make all types of deep-drawn parts, from those with a high degree of forming and unusual contours, extremely small dimensions and very demanding geometry, including those made from materials that are very difficult to form.

 

  • What is deep drawing?

    Deep drawing is one of the most important forming processes in modern manufacturing technology. The DIN 8584 standard describes deep drawing as the forming of a sheet metal blank into a hollow body that is open on one side or the forming of a hollow body into a hollow body with a smaller circumference, without intentionally modifying its wall thickness. 

    Since deformation takes place between room temperature and a maximum of 250°C, the initially soft material undergoes work hardening. As a result, these components are known for their high strength. This means that the thickness of their walls can be reduced compared to machined components, resulting in a lower component weight. 
    This makes deep drawing an excellent process for the mass production of thin-walled components where exact dimensional accuracy, high strength and minimal waste are important. Our deep-drawn parts can also be heat-treated, coated or refined in other ways to meet the needs of the relevant application. 

    How does deep drawing at STÜKEN work?
    The material is brought into its desired shape over a number of different forming stages, performed with tools developed specifically for the purpose. In this case, the word “tool” refers to all the stations involved and their respective punches and dies.
    In deep drawing, the starting material is a metal strip which is wound up in the form of a coil. The metal strip is unwound from the coil and fed into the deep drawing press. There are different forming stations arranged one after another in the press. 
    Each press station consists of two main components for each product: the die (or the tool that forms the negative shape of the component) and the punch (which presses the material into the die).

    • The first forming step: Deep drawing with transfer presses begins with cutting a blank from the strip to form the cup. This is a joint effort between the punch and the die: The punch presses the blank into the die. Computer-aided forming simulations (FEA) help to create the optimum design for the tools. After each draw, the punch moves back up. An ejector lifts the workpiece back to the transfer level, where it is stripped off of the punch by the draw sleeve. The grippers transport it to the next station, where the next forming step takes place.
    • Subsequent forming steps: In the subsequent forming steps, the material continues to be formed into its desired final shape. During this process, the diameter of the hollow body is reduced and the height of the drawn part increases. The wall thickness can either be kept largely consistent or reduced if desired. The reduction of the wall thickness is called ironing. Each forming stage can also involve various further operations, such as punching holes, forming beads or forming threads.
    • Finishing: In the last forming station, the component is shaped into its final form and then discharged from the press.
       

    Deep drawing is an extremely efficient, fast and resource-saving process for mass production. In up to 30 forming stations per tool, STÜKEN can efficiently produce the deep-drawn part with side or bottom holes, threads and many other complex geometric properties. Production on multiple lines is also often possible. The higher the quantity, the greater the potential cost savings.

  • State-of-the-art deep drawing production facilities

    At STÜKEN, we produce deep-drawn parts on more than 400 presses with up to 30 tool stations – and we can expand our range of machinery with additional systems precisely tailored to your needs, based on the project requirements.

    We work with three basic types of presses at STÜKEN:

    • Transfer presses from 60 to 1250 kN: To begin with, a blank is punched out of the strip. Only this blank is fed into the press for forming. It is formed into the final finished part over a series of forming stations, using grippers to transport the workpiece step by step from one station to the next. 
      Transfer presses offer a high level of production performance, and are particularly well-suited to applications that require long and/or large components with complex geometries, or features such as side holes. The tools have a single-track design, which means a finished deep-drawn part is produced with each press stroke. Stroke rates typically reach up to 300 strokes per minute.
    • Automatic stamping presses from 180 to 800 kN: Unlike transfer presses, these presses keep the blank and the resulting deep-drawn parts in the strip until the end. They are transferred to the individual forming stations not by grippers, but by the strip itself, which is connected to the parts by thin webs. Thanks to the strip guidance, the tools can have a multi-track design, which produces multiple drawn parts during each press stroke. These machines are used for parts that are less complex. They are suitable for thinner components such as sheet metal sleeves or simple housings and a very high quantity output. The stroke rates typically reach up to 1000 strokes per minute.
    • Hydraulic presses from 300 to 3,200 kN: These presses are capable of generating extremely high pressing forces, which are required for larger or thicker materials. They are often used during the prototype phase when the final component contour has not yet been determined. 


    Thanks to our versatile presses and machines, we can offer you a wide range of options in the production of deep-drawn parts. For instance, we can produce components with the following dimensions and material thicknesses:

    • Dimensions from under 1 mm to 92 mm in height
    • Diameters from 0.4 to 75 mm
    • Material thicknesses from 0.03 to 2.2 mm
  • Deep Drawing illustrated

Which materials are suitable for deep drawing?

To allow the formation of a hollow body from a flat blank, the material used must be formable; that is, it must have a certain degree of ductility. One characteristic value for this is the “elongation at break”, which is determined by carrying out tensile testing in accordance with DIN EN ISO 6892-1. Simply put, the greater a material’s elongation at break, the longer and more complex the deep-drawn parts that can be produced from it. As a rule, the strip materials are processed in a soft-annealed state, since this provides the highest elongation at break values, and thus the greatest forming capacities. STÜKEN processes a wide variety of materials. The materials we use most frequently are steels and stainless steels.

The most important material groups in the deep drawing process are described below, together with their special characteristics:

  • Aluminum and aluminum alloys

    Official descriptions for pure aluminum and aluminum alloys are described in documents such as the DIN EN 485-2 standard. A distinction is made between the different alloy groups based on the main alloy element. 

    Aluminum or aluminum alloys are particularly well-suited to applications in which weight savings, good electrical conductivity, high thermal conductivity, sufficient corrosion resistance and magnetic properties are important. This is typically the case in fields of application such as the automotive industry, electronics or aeronautical engineering (e.g. in cooling plates or heat sinks). Aluminum is relatively low-strength compared to steel, which can lead to restrictions on highly stressed components. 

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  • Unalloyed or low-alloy steel

    Unalloyed steels are iron-carbon alloys with a carbon content ranging from 0.05 to 2.0%. In addition to iron, they contain only natural accompaniments to it, such as sulfur, manganese and phosphorus. Low-alloy steels contain up to 5% alloying elements that improve their properties, such as chromium, silicon, nickel, etc. Components made from these steel grades are used in a wide range of industrial and consumer goods applications. Steel is unique in that one can vary its properties to a great extent by subjecting it to a range of downstream processes such as heat treatment, electroplating and other coating techniques. Alloy steels with a higher strength are used for demanding applications, but they have an increased risk of springback and developing cracks during forming. STÜKEN has innovative in-house solutions to these issues thanks to our state-of-the-art production technology and comprehensive finishing processes.

    Even micro-alloyed and multiphase (duplex) steels with a higher rate of work hardening can be deep-drawn. STÜKEN also offers solutions for hydrogen-resistant stainless steels.

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  • Stainless steel

    Stainless steel, or steel that is resistant to rust, acid and heat, is corrosion-resistant in a normal atmosphere if it contains at least 12% chromium. Types of stainless steel include ferritic, austenitic, martensitic and ferritic-austenitic (duplex). Its excellent corrosion resistance and strength mean it is used in many different applications. Stainless steel parts are hugely important in the automotive, medical and food industry. Higher forming forces are required to deep draw stainless steel, as this material class has a higher strength than unalloyed steel, making the deep drawing process more complex. Martensitic stainless steel, such as X15Cr13, can be hardened by means of subsequent heat treatment. Austenitic steel, such as X5CrNi 18-10 (1.4301; “V2A”), usually only increase in strength if subjected to work hardening during forming. However, further surface hardening is possible in the form of treatment with STÜKEN’s patented process for surface layer hardening, SWEP15®, which typically achieves hardness values of about 1300 HV 0.1. 

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  • Copper and copper alloys

    In addition to various forms of pure copper, brass (CuZn), bronze (CuSn) and nickel silver (CuNiZn) are also some of the copper alloys formed at STÜKEN. 

    Brass and copper are widely used in electrical engineering, electromobility and sanitary engineering. These metals are relatively easy to process and primarily offer good to very good electrical and thermal conductivity. These parts are often electroplated for greater corrosion resistance. 

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  • Titanium

    Titanium is a light metal with a density of about 4.5 g/cm³. It combines this relatively low density with high strength and toughness. Furthermore, it is highly resistant to corrosion, non-magnetic and biocompatible. However, it is also more difficult material to process, as doing so subjects the tools to extreme stress. Titanium is widely used in the aerospace industry, where its low weight and high temperature resistance provide significant advantages. Its strength and corrosion resistance make it suitable for components that must withstand extreme conditions. Titanium is highly bio-compatible, which is why it is particularly common in medical devices. STÜKEN has developed a technology that enables reliable processing of grade 1 titanium (Ti Grade 1). 

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  • Nickel and nickel alloys

    Nickel and nickel alloys (e.g. Alloy 600) are frequently used for their resistance to corrosion and high temperatures. They are ideal for deep-drawn parts in electrical engineering as well as for battery sleeves and chemical processing plants. However, nickel alloys are harder than many other metals, and specially adapted tools are required to prevent cracking during deep drawing.

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  • Molybdenum

    Molybdenum is characterized by its outstanding heat resistance and mechanical strength, which make it ideal for use in car lights and heating elements that are exposed to high temperatures. However, molybdenum is more brittle than other materials and requires special care during deep drawing.

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What are the advantages of deep drawing at STÜKEN?


Here is a summary of the key benefits:

  • Technological benefits:
    STÜKEN uses transfer presses and automatic stamping presses with progressive die technology for its deep drawing processes. Our in-house press construction provides the perfect production conditions. We use automatic transfer and automatic stamping technology to manufacture thousands of different parts for our customers worldwide.
     
  • Versatile materials:
    STÜKEN processes a wide variety of materials, including common metals such as steel, copper, nickel and aluminum, alloys such as stainless steel and brass, and special materials such as molybdenum, niobium and titanium. We process every material that can be deep-drawn and are continuously expanding the limits of what is feasible.
     
  • Economically and environmentally compelling:
    We can produce even the smallest, thin-walled components with high precision and always strive to ensure the maximum degree of material utilization, resulting in lower costs and less environmental impact compared to other metal forming processes. High stroke rates and, where possible, multi-track and multi-stage production let us guarantee much higher production performance and very low energy consumption compared to machining processes. Furthermore, our deep drawing process does not require environmentally harmful substances such as lead. 

What is deep drawing used to produce?

With more than 400 presses and the capacity to process a multitude of different materials ranging from steel to special alloys, STÜKEN is able to offer solutions for a whole range of industries.

  • Mobility

    Deep-drawn parts play a crucial role in the mobility industry, where they are used in a variety of safety-related and high-performance components.

    For instance, in the automobile industry, this includes:

    • ABS systems: Yoke rings, valve seats, housing pots, coil housings, filters, disks
    • Electric steering: Bearing components, turning angle sensors
    • Fuel injection systems: Housings, filters, connectors, pipes
    • LED and xenon lighting: Socket housings and housing covers
    • Cooling systems: Brass housings, ball valves
    • Airbags: Covers, caps, ignition chambers (i.e. components for airbag igniters and airbag generators)
    • Electromobility components: Electromagnetic shields, metal busbars, high-voltage connection components, connectors, sensor housings, and drive components
    • Temperature sensors and other sensors: Sleeves
    • Rotary switches (e.g. rotary switch for ventilation/heating), and tappets
    • Exhaust gas temperature sensors, exhaust gas recirculation valves, and in-tank gasoline pumps.
       

    Other applications include construction machinery, agricultural vehicles, emergency generators and drones. Our deep-drawn parts are also used in bicycles and e-bikes. 

  • Electronics industry

    Deep drawing produces many metal components that are used in electrical equipment and systems. 

    At STÜKEN we manufacture the following components:

    • Shielding: Deep-drawn parts for electromagnetic shielding of sensitive components
    • Diodes used in circuits
    • Oscillators for frequency control in electronic devices
    • Test pins for quality control in electronic systems
    • Switches for electrical devices and systems
    • Fuses for electrical circuits
    • Connectors for safe and stable electrical connections
    • Resistors for electrical circuits
  • Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC)

    Deep-drawn parts are used in a wide range of applications in heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology. They play a central role in a variety of components and ensure that modern systems function reliably and safely. 

    Examples of deep-drawn parts in this area include:

    • Cups for temperature sensors and thermostats
    • Sleeves for precise temperature control in heating systems
    • Seals and valves for heat exchangers
    • Safety valves that ensure heating and air conditioning systems are protected
    • Components for cooling systems and air conditioning systems
    • Connections for low-pressure and high-pressure lines in heating systems
    • Fastening elements for system components such as pipes and modules
  • Medical technology

    STÜKEN is certified according to ISO 13485 and ensures that our deep-drawn parts meet the high standards of the medical industry through validated cleaning processes and cleanrooms classified as ISO 14644 Class 7 and GMP Class C.

    STÜKEN products are used in many areas of application, including:

    • Infusion sets for safe use.
    • Dialysis devices: Components for connections that meet the highest hygiene requirements.
    • Pacemakers: Housing components that meet the highest standards of quality and cleanliness.
    • Insulin pumps: Seals and mounting components that enable precise control.
    • Insulin pens: Protective covers, seals and fasteners for safe use.
    • Dental implants: Precision components required for secure implant packaging.
    • Medical pump systems: Housing parts, connectors and seals with high-precision and reliable functionality.
    • Solenoid valves: Components for controls, safety mechanisms and seals.
  • Other industrial applications

    Reliable, durable and functional components are crucial to industrial production. Deep-drawn parts play a valuable role in numerous applications including:

    • Hall lighting: Reflectors and lamp holders that provide optimal lighting in industrial plants.
    • Smart Factory: components that support the interconnection and automation of production processes, such as sensors.
    • Solenoid valves in industrial plants: components such as valve bodies and seals used to control liquids and gases.
    • Sensor systems in production technology: mounts and housings for sensors that help monitor and optimize production processes.
    • Monitoring systems in building services technology: components for safety and alarm systems that allow plants and rooms to be monitored.
    • Electric actuators: components for the precise regulation of controlling movements and processes in industrial systems.
    • Measurement and testing technology: components for devices used for quality assurance and troubleshooting in production.
    • Building installations: fasteners and components for ensuring stable and functional installations in industrial buildings.

Precision instead of errors – in every deep drawing process


Like any industrial manufacturing process, deep drawing also comes with certain challenges that need to be taken into consideration in order to achieve the desired quality results. The most common difficulties in the deep drawing process are:

  • Wrinkling: If the material flow is inconsistent or the forming process is not optimally coordinated, wrinkling may occur. This often happens when the sheet is too stiff, or the forming speed is too high.
  • Excessive stretching: Too much deformation can cause the material to tear. Excessive stretching occurs when the material has reached its ductility limit, or the deformation force is too high.
  • Bulging: Inadequate support for the material during the process can cause the sheet to bulge outwards at certain points. This usually happens when the workpiece is not centered correctly.
  • Cracks: Cracks often form in very thin materials or in materials that are not easily formable. The most common cause of cracks in deep-drawn parts are material defects in the strip. These material defects may involve, for example, non-metallic inclusions caused during melt metallurgy production. With the current technological standards, such defects cannot be avoided. 

At STÜKEN, we prevent these defects by paying attention to precise tool design and precisely controlling the relevant forming parameters. Thanks to our reliable process control, well-trained specialists, cutting-edge automation and bespoke test technology, STÜKEN is able to guarantee outstanding quality.

How deep drawing differs from other production processes

The most relevant processes related to deep drawing include:

  • Deep drawing stamping

    Deep drawing stamping is a variant of deep drawing. It is characterized by the additional step of stamping, where a shape or texture is applied to the part. Deep drawing stamping is often used to integrate functional or aesthetic surface textures into the deep-drawn parts (e.g. in the production of automotive components, decorative parts or medical devices).

  • Ironing

    The ironing process is used to deliberately reduce the wall thickness of the component (by definition, wall thickness does not change during the deep drawing process). Ironing produces a very smooth surface and a higher degree of work hardening in the component. For example, this process is used for components that subsequently undergo flanging during assembly.

  • Cold extrusion

    Cold extrusion is a massive forming process that primarily involves applying compressive stress to the material in the form of a compact slug. Like deep drawing, this process can be used to produce hollow bodies. In cold extrusion, the material is generally pressed into a mold at room temperature and flows into the desired molds in a similar way to deep drawing. Extrusion is typically suitable for rotating parts where the material is pressed into a cylindrical shape. The materials used for extrusion must be very soft and ductile, which is why aluminum, copper and unalloyed steels are the most common choices. The process subjects tooling to more stress than deep drawing.

    In contrast, deep drawing, which is a tensile compression forming process, is mainly used for the production of hollow bodies or housings with an opening on one side.

Discover more possibilities with STÜKEN

We tackle every challenge with technical expertise and a passion for precise solutions. Our driven and dependable employees commit themselves to achieving the best results for your project. Trust, dedication and an innovative way of thinking are deeply rooted in our corporate culture, and our passion helps us ensure the successful implementation of your project. Contact us today – and let’s realize your goals together!

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Do you have questions about the possibilities of deep drawing? We support you because STÜKEN MEANS MORE partnership: info@stueken.com