Good Aluminum Sheet For Bending

This will give you a nice bend.

Good aluminum sheet for bending. The force must exceed the material s yield strength to achieve a plastic deformation. The best aluminum alloys for bending come down to series 3xxx and series 5xxx and sometimes series 6xxx. Series 6xxx are the aluminum magnesium silicon alloys. Heavy gauge aluminum bars or rods must be heat bent using an acetylene torch and vice.

A bending brake will be best suited for shaping flat square sheets of light gauge aluminum. Series 5xxx are the aluminum magnesium alloys. 3003 definitely isn t fun for drilling or any other sort of operation involving edge cutting tools. Miserable to bend cracking is very common and cold bending will always weaken the metal.

The top 3 aluminum alloys for being are the 3003 which has medium strength and the best cold workability the 5052 which is the highest strength alloy of the more common non heat treatable grades and the 6061 which is one of the more versatile heat treatable alloys. This is a highly technical and potentially dangerous process best left to a professional metalworker. Highly formable and one of the best kinds of aluminum to bend. As a general rule the machinability of any aluminum alloy is inversely proportional to its formability.

The bending process for aluminium is useful and cost effective. They exhibit a very good combination of high strength resistance to corrosion formability and good weldability. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece. These heat treatable alloys exhibit great strength good corrosion resistance and ease of formability.

This weakens the aluminium and creates a fracture line. With the aid of a straight edge and a sharp knife score both sides of the aluminium sheet. Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations. That s the ideal anyway but the reality is that many parts arrive at the press brake in a less than ideal state.

6061 t6 aluminum is tempered and notorious for not bending easily. Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape. The alloy 5052 h32 may bend well enough for my use and shows about 50 higher tensile and yield. Place the fracture line over the edge of a table and bend the overhang slightly downwards.

It gives you design flexibility integrated functions good aesthetics and complex geometries you can also choose between different bending processes such as roller bending press bending draw bending and stretch bending. Proper bending can be done with annealing the aluminum first although it s not an ideal candidate for formed parts.