Aluminum Sheet Metal Bending Radius

You will need to know your material thickness mt the bend angle b the inside radius ir and the k factor k.

Aluminum sheet metal bending radius.

If your bend radius needs to be adjusted a member of engineering design services team will contact you before your design is manufactured. We go beyond the general rules of sheet metal bending as our customers want tight bend radii for sheet metal parts. The table below shows the permitted bend radii for 90 o bending. 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.

Per the aluminum association inc. 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. The bend radii listed are standard minimum if manufacturing for aircraft and aerospace applications. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece.

Radii for various thicknesses expressed in terms of thickness t. The bending radius must be at least 0 8 t to 2 t for sheet steel. The force must exceed the material s yield strength to achieve a plastic deformation. Table 1 preferred recommended 90 degree bend radii for various sheet metals.

The bend allowance formula takes into account the geometries of bending and the properties of your metal to determine the bend allowance. The material thickness will be measured in decimal form not by the gauge number. 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. Another factor to consider is that during the process of bending the metal hardens and strengthens by reason of the working effect.

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. Aluminum minimum bend radii for 90 degree cold forming of sheet and plate. Factor 2 thickness and bend radius. It is possible to choose other bends if you require but additional lead time and tooling charges may apply.

Apart from alloy selection thickness and bend radius are also critical factors that must be considered. Advantages of bottoming include greater accuracy and less springback. Aluminum where necessary 5052 h32 may be bent to 1t and 6061 t6 to 1 1 2t. The minimum bend radius data shown in these charts is measured to the inside of the bend.

Recommended minimum bend radii for steel and aluminum. Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations. 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.