Mechanical Engineering - Workshop Technology - Discussion

Piercing is a shearing process where a punch and die are used to create a hole in sheet metal or a plate. The process and machinery are usually the same as that used in blanking, except that the piece being punched out is scrap in the piercing process.

There are many specialized types of piercing: lancing, perforating, notching, nibbling, shaving, cutoff, and dinking.