Dayton Rogers is committed to educating the industry on best practices, engineering principles, and commonly used industry terms. This Glossary helps define phrases and concepts you may encounter throughout your work.

A

Abrasion Resistance - Ability of a coating to withstand rubbing, scraping and eroding forces.

Air Bending - Forming operation in which a metal part is formed without the punch and die closing completely on the part.

Alloys - Base metal with other metal or non-metal constituents melted together into a new molecular structure.

Aluminum Alloy - Pure aluminum melted with other constituents to achieve specific physical and mechanical properties.

Annealing, Full - Heat treating process in which metal is heated above its critical range, held for full recrystallization, then slowly cooled.

Anodizing - Process of applying a controlled oxide layer to the surface of aluminum.

Austenitic Stainless Steel - Non-magnetic stainless steel; not hardenable through heat treatment; good corrosion resistance.

B

Back Gauge - Stop at the rear of a metal forming machine used to position the workpiece.

Bend Radius - Inside radius of a formed feature.

Bend Relief - Clearance notch at an end of a flange to allow bending without tearing adjacent material.

Blank - Sheet metal stock from which a product is made, or the workpiece from a blanking operation.

Blanking - Die cutting of the outside shape of a part.

Bottoming - Forming operation in which the punch and die close completely on the workpiece.

Burr - Raised, sharp edge inherent in cutting operations such as shearing, blanking, punching and drilling.

C

CAD - Computer-Aided Design.

CNC - Computer Numerical Control.

Coining - Compressive metal flowing action.

Cold Rolled Steel - Steel reduced to final thickness cold by a rolling mill; smooth surface with slight skin hardness.

Corrosion Resistance - Ability of a substance to resist deterioration due to reaction with its environment.

Countersinking - Machining or coining operation to generate a conical angle on a hole.

D

Datum - Theoretically exact planes, lines or points from which other features are located on design drawings.

Debur - To remove the sharp, knife-like edge from parts.

Die - Tool with a void or cavity fitted to a punch used to shear or form sheet metal parts.

Die Clearance - Amount of space between the punch and die opening per side.

Drawing - Engineering document depicting a part; or metal forming by stretching/compressing sheet into a die.

Ductility - Ability of a material to be bent or formed without fracture.

E–F

Electroplating - Deposition of a thin layer of metal using an electrolytic process.

Extruded Hole - Pierced and formed hole in which metal is stretched creating a tubular shape.

Flange - Formed projection or rim generally used for stiffness or assembly.

Forming - Operation converting a flat sheet metal workpiece into a three-dimensional part.

G–H

Galvanic Corrosion - Dissimilar metals in contact with moisture acting as a battery and causing electrolytic etching.

Grain Direction - Crystalline orientation of material in the direction of mill rolling.

Hard Tooling - Tooling made for a specific part; also called dedicated tooling.

Hem (Dutch Bend) - Edge of material doubled over onto itself for safe handling or edge stiffness.

Hot Rolled Steel - Steel rollerformed from a hot plastic state; rough, scaly surface.

I–L

ISO Drafting Standard - Technical drawing regulations published by the International Organization for Standardization.

Laser Welding - Metal melting and fusing using concentrated coherent light beam energy.

Lead Time - Time from order placement until product availability, including planning, tooling, fabrication and finishing.

M–P

Manufacturability - Degree to which a product can be efficiently and accurately produced.

MIG Weld - Metal melting and fusing with a continuous consumable electrode and inert gas shield.

Nesting - Grouping identical or different parts within a workpiece to conserve material.

Notching - Operation in which the punch removes material from the edge or corner of a strip or blank.

Piercing - Punching of openings such as holes and slots in material.

Powder Coating - 100% solids coating applied as dry powder and converted into a film with heat.

Progressive Tool - Die using multiple stations for piercing, forming, extruding and drawing; typically for high volume.

Prototype - First part of a design made to test tolerance capability, tooling concepts and manufacturability.

R–S

Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) - Melting and joining two metal surfaces by electrical current forming a weld nugget.

Roll Forming - Continuous bending through progressive roller dies along a linear axis.

Shearing - Cutting force applied perpendicular to material causing it to yield and break.

Soft Tooling - Fabrication using CNC turret presses, laser profilers and press brakes.

Stainless Steel - Alloys with high oxidation resistance through chromium and nickel.

Stiffening Rib - Embossed feature added to make a sheet metal part more rigid.

T–W

Tapping - Operation to create internal threads by cutting or forming.

Tolerance - Permissible deviation from a specified dimension.

Turret Press - Automatic punch press selecting tools from a rotary turret for piercing, blanking and forming.

Welding - Process of joining metals by melting and fusing them together.

Work Hardening - Increase of hardness and strength caused by plastic deformation below the recrystallization range.