Aluminum Grade For Sheet Metal Sharp Bends

The bend radii listed are standard minimum if manufacturing for aircraft and aerospace applications.

Aluminum grade for sheet metal sharp bends. Ideally part designers should know that when it comes to aluminum grades 3003 and 5052 will bend 6061 will not. A simple metal folder suitable for making small metal boxes and chassis is also described. Aluminum is a common metal used for both industrial and non industrial applications. Use the minimum bend dimension values in the charts below for your minimum closeness of cutout to a bend.

Which aluminum alloy bends the best is a a common question customers want the answer to. The bend radius you select may not be available if the geometry of the part will not allow us to bend with the specific tooling required to achieve that radius. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece. In most cases it can be difficult to choose the correct aluminum grade for your intended application.

That is it gets stronger and harder by working bending it. Material bend radii and minimum bend size charts please note. Miserable to bend cracking is very common and cold bending will always weaken the metal. Bending is a delicate and demanding process most of the time and common fabricating processes require a degree of formability that make your choice of proper alloy critical.

In high purity forms aluminum is soft and ductile. This instructable shows how sheet aluminium may be cut using nothing but a knife and a metal straight edge. Just like all sheet metal aluminum work hardens during the forming process. Since commercial sheet metal bending can be done with less concern for stresses caused during forming operation the radius can be near zero for thin sheet metal.

Proper bending can be done with annealing the aluminum first although it s not an ideal candidate for formed parts. This is generalizing of course as there are ways to form 6061. Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape. Highly formable and one of the best kinds of aluminum to bend.

The minimum bend radius data shown in these charts is measured to the inside of the bend. When you are forming aluminum if the radius is sharp small in relation to the material thickness you will overwork the material making it harder more brittle and much more likely to fail. If your project does not have any physical or structural demands and the aesthetics are not important then almost any aluminum grade will do the job. The force must exceed the material s yield strength to achieve a plastic deformation.