Metal Stamping Materials Explained

Metal stamping involves the process of forming metal into desired shapes using techniques such as punching, blanking, bending, coining, and more. Used in industries ranging from automotive to medical, construction, and more, metal stamping offers a cost-effective way of producing parts in large volumes.

When choosing the best material for metal stamping, it’s important to consider the complexity of the final product and the characteristics you need it to exhibit. Copper, steel, and aluminum alloys are all common material options for metal stamping. Here, we will describe each material and its benefits to help you determine which metal is right for your next metal stamping project.

Choosing the Best Metal for Stamping

The material you choose for your metal stamping project greatly affects the final outcome of the finished product. To ensure that you select the right metal based on your project’s requirements, it’s important to ask yourself the following questions:

• How much does the material cost and will it fit into your project’s budget?
• Will the material be easy to work and shape into the desired product?
• How strong and durable does the material need to be?
• What sort of environmental conditions will the material need to withstand?
• What long-term benefits does the material need to offer?
• How will clients use the finished product?

By answering the above questions, you can narrow down your search for the appropriate metal stamping material. Since there are so many material options, it can be challenging to find the one with the exact characteristics you need. Because of this, it’s always a good idea to work with a trusted metal stamping manufacturer, as they have the necessary knowledge and experience to guide you toward the best material for your needs.

Copper Alloys for Metal Stamping

Copper and its alloys, like brass and bronze, have appealing characteristics that make them ideal for many metal stamping projects. They’re too soft for products requiring strength and durability, but that softness makes them easy to form into complex shapes and incredibly thin components. Benefits that make copper alloys popular for metal stamping include:

• Electrical and thermal conductivity
• Corrosion resistance
• Very good malleability
• UV radiation and temperature resistance
• Antimicrobial
• Decorative

Steel Alloys for Metal Stamping

Strong and versatile, steel is one of the most common metal stamping materials. Steel can be alloyed with various other metals to enhance specific physical properties. Steel can also be treated before or after the metal stamping process to increase hardness or corrosion resistance. Benefits of using steel alloys for metal stamping include:

• Magnetic (except for most stainless steel)
• Strong (with varying degrees of strength depending on the alloy)
• Cost-effective and easy to obtain
• Can be treated to enhance certain properties
• Corrosion resistance

High-Strength Low-Alloy (HSLA) Steels in Stamping

High-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel is prevalent in metal stamping processes, offering various beneficial properties for stamping product applications. Instead of being designed to meet certain chemical composition requirements, HSLA steels are made to deliver predetermined mechanical characteristics. Compared to carbon steel, for example, this alloy material offers enhanced mechanical properties and corrosion resistance.

Advantages in Stamping Applications

HSLA steel offers various advantages that can be bolstered by adjusting the composition of the metal. The primary benefits of HSLA steel include its higher yield strength, toughness, resistance to corrosion, cost-efficiency, and enhanced compatibility with forming and welding processes.

Industry Applications

Given its unique combination of advantageous characteristics, HSLA steel offers widespread application flexibility. Industries like the aerospace, automotive, and construction sectors, for instance, prize HSLA steel for its optimal strength-to-weight ratio. The material is a good option for reducing weight in products like wheels, suspension systems, chassis, subframes, and seat runners for vehicles while maintaining their durability and longevity.

Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS)

There are three types of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) that manufacturers use in metal fabrication and stamping operations:

• Dual-phase (DP). These steels are made up of islands of hard-phase martensite surrounded by a soft, continuous-phase ferrite matrix. A continuous-phase material is visually distinct in the material structure or is mechanically separable.
• TRIP. Part of the high-strength steel alloy class, TRIP is suitable for automotive, marine, and naval applications.
• Martensitic. This stainless steel variety performs well in applications in which corrosion resistance, strength, and durability are important.

Benefits and Challenges

AHSS offer superior strength as compared to low-strength steel, so they’re an optimal choice for load-bearing applications. However, before selecting AHSS for your metal stamping project, be sure to consider the following material challenges:

• Strength versus cost. AHSS are costlier than lower-strength varieties. For structural fabrication projects or those that don’t necessitate AHSS’ level of strength, low-strength steel would be more cost-effective.
• Welding considerations. If your project requires welding, keep in mind that you may have to preheat the AHSS material.
• Sufficient force. Stamping or forming AHSS requires that you apply greater force than with other materials.

Industry Applications

Metal stamping can rapidly and precisely generate high volumes of durable, uniform, tight-tolerance components from AHSS and related materials. Advanced high-strength steel stampings are ideal for applications in the following industries:

• Automotive
• Electronics
• Appliances
• Industrial equipment
• Construction
• Medical
• Consumer products

Aluminum Alloys for Metal Stamping

Aluminum alloys for metal stamping offer an excellent strength-to-weight ratio, making them popular in the automotive and construction industries, among others. Though often more expensive than steel alloys, aluminum alloys exhibit good corrosion resistance and long lifespans. Aluminum offers the following benefits for metal stamping:

• Flexible and malleable, making it easy to form into complex shapes without becoming brittle
• Electrical and thermal conductivity
• Corrosion resistance
• Low-maintenance finish
• Rust-resistant
• Less raw material is required for metal stamping

Specialty Metals and Alloys in Stamping

In addition to copper, steel, and aluminum, multiple specialty materials are compatible with metal stamping processes, including the following:

• Titanium. A readily available, lightweight, and corrosion-resistant stamping material, titanium is a versatile metal with characteristics suited to a variety of applications and industries. Manufacturers can use deep draw stamping to cold-form titanium into simply shaped, deep components.
• Nickel alloys. Offering superior strength to withstand extreme environmental conditions, nickel alloys are ideal for aerospace components. However, the mechanical properties of superalloys can make them harder to work with.
• Magnesium. Magnesium alloy lends its applications impressive dimensional stability and damping capacity, all at one-fourth and two-thirds the weights of steel and aluminum, respectively. The material is a suitable replacement for these metals as well as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastic in applications like manufacturing vehicle components. Without risking passenger safety, lightweight magnesium reduces overall automotive weight along with fuel consumption and emissions.

Partner with Aranda Tooling for your Metal Stamping Needs

Many materials are suitable for the metal stamping process, so it’s important to consider the needs of your application to narrow down your selection. If you’re not sure which one is right for you, turn to the professionals at Aranda Tooling. With over four decades of experience offering metal stamping and fabrication services, our experienced staff has the knowledge to help you find the best metal stamping materials for your project.

For help with your material selection process, or to get started on your next metal stamping project, contact us or request a quote today.