Say you get a print that says you need to bend a part to an external angle of 100 degrees that s an internal angle of just 80 degrees.
Aluminum sheet metal bend radius.
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.
In a previous bending basics article you mention a material s tensile reduction percentage used for calculating the minimum inside bend radius of various metals.
The bend allowance formula takes into account the geometries of bending and the properties of your metal to determine the bend allowance.
Sheet metal bend radii if these guidelines are not followed more research and or some form of analysis may be requried.
Advantages of bottoming include greater accuracy and less springback.
Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations.
It is possible to choose other bends if you require but additional lead time and tooling charges may apply.
We go beyond the general rules of sheet metal bending as our customers want tight bend radii for sheet metal parts.
Divide 50 by the material s reduction percentage as specified by the material supplier subtract by 1 and then multiply by the plate thickness.
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.
Table 1 preferred recommended 90 degree bend radii for various sheet metals.
The tables below show bend radii and minimum bend sizes for materials and tooling combinations stocked by protocase.
Aluminum minimum bend radii for 90 degree cold forming of sheet and plate.
The bending radius must be at least 0 8 t to 2 t for sheet steel.
Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape.
Larger bend radii require about the same force for bottoming as they do for air bending however smaller radii require greater force up to five times as much than air bending.
Still if you want to avoid cracking abide by the minimum bend radius in 0 25 in thick 6061 t6 which is quite large see figure 3 and avoid bending acute angles.
Recommended minimum bend radii for steel and aluminum.
The material thickness will be measured in decimal form not by the gauge number.
You described a rough rule to find a steel s minimum bend radius.
The minimum bend radius data shown in these charts is measured to the inside of the bend.
Per the aluminum association inc.
You will need to know your material thickness mt the bend angle b the inside radius ir and the k factor k.
The bend radii listed are standard minimum if manufacturing for aircraft and aerospace applications.
Aluminum where necessary 5052 h32 may be bent to 1t and 6061 t6 to 1 1 2t.
Radii for various thicknesses expressed in terms of thickness t.
