Sheet metal bend radii if these guidelines are not followed more research and or some form of analysis may be requried.
Aluminum sheet metal bend radius.
The bend radii listed are standard minimum if manufacturing for aircraft and aerospace applications.
It is possible to choose other bends if you require but additional lead time and tooling charges may apply.
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.
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.
Table 1 preferred recommended 90 degree bend radii for various sheet metals.
Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations.
You described a rough rule to find a steel s minimum bend radius.
Recommended minimum bend radii for steel and aluminum.
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.
We go beyond the general rules of sheet metal bending as our customers want tight bend radii for sheet metal parts.
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 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.
Per the aluminum association inc.
If your bend radius needs to be adjusted a member of engineering design services team will contact you before your design is manufactured.
You will need to know your material thickness mt the bend angle b the inside radius ir and the k factor k.
Aluminum where necessary 5052 h32 may be bent to 1t and 6061 t6 to 1 1 2t.
The bend allowance formula takes into account the geometries of bending and the properties of your metal to determine the bend allowance.
The tables below show bend radii and minimum bend sizes for materials and tooling combinations stocked by protocase.
Advantages of bottoming include greater accuracy and less springback.
The force must exceed the material s yield strength to achieve a plastic deformation.
The material thickness will be measured in decimal form not by the gauge number.
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.
Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape.
The minimum bend radius data shown in these charts is measured to the inside of the bend.
This is done through the application of force on a workpiece.
