Aluminum Sheet Metal Bend Radius

The material thickness will be measured in decimal form not by the gauge number.

Aluminum sheet metal bend radius.

Advantages of bottoming include greater accuracy and less springback. Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations. Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape. Aluminum where necessary 5052 h32 may be bent to 1t and 6061 t6 to 1 1 2t.

The force must exceed the material s yield strength to achieve a plastic deformation. 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. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece. The tables below show bend radii and minimum bend sizes for materials and tooling combinations stocked by protocase.

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. Divide 50 by the material s reduction percentage as specified by the material supplier subtract by 1 and then multiply by the plate thickness. The bend radii listed are standard minimum if manufacturing for aircraft and aerospace applications. Sheet metal bend radii if these guidelines are not followed more research and or some form of analysis may be requried.

The minimum bend radius data shown in these charts is measured to the inside of the bend. We go beyond the general rules of sheet metal bending as our customers want tight bend radii for sheet metal parts. The bending radius must be at least 0 8 t to 2 t for sheet steel. Table 1 preferred recommended 90 degree bend radii for various sheet metals.

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. Radii for various thicknesses expressed in terms of thickness t. You will need to know your material thickness mt the bend angle b the inside radius ir and the k factor k. It is possible to choose other bends if you require but additional lead time and tooling charges may apply.

Recommended minimum bend radii for steel and aluminum. 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. If your bend radius needs to be adjusted a member of engineering design services team will contact you before your design is manufactured. You described a rough rule to find a steel s minimum bend radius.

The bend allowance formula takes into account the geometries of bending and the properties of your metal to determine the bend allowance. Per the aluminum association inc.