Bending Aluminum Sheet Without Cracking

The diagram shows the effects of four different alloy additions silicon si copper cu magnesium mg and magnesium silicide mg2si on the crack.

Bending aluminum sheet without cracking.

When you are forming aluminum if the radius is sharp small in relation to the material thickness you will overwork the material making it harder more brittle and much more likely to fail. Proper bending can be done with annealing the aluminum first although it s not an ideal candidate for formed parts. How to bend sheet metal without a brake in 4 different methods with minimal or homemade tools. You may want to look at steel or even titanium for your plates if aluminum is giving you too much trouble in forming.

How to bend sheet metal without a brake. In high purity forms aluminum is soft and ductile. And this is important to know before you start on your project. In this post we ll explain it to you.

We re having trouble bending 6061 t6 aluminum without cracking and i was wondering if you could give us a few pointers. Miserable to bend cracking is very common and cold bending will always weaken the metal. Bend radius the smaller radius the more chance of cracking. Press brake is your best bet for thick sections.

Which aluminum alloy bends the best is a a common question customers want the answer to. Bending is a delicate and demanding process most of the time and common fabricating processes require a degree of formability that make your choice of proper alloy critical. 6061 t6 aluminum is tempered and notorious for not bending easily. Leaf brake for thinner stuff.

From a bending perspective it s always best to bend these parts in an annealed state and then temper them to the correct condition. Radius should never be smaller than thickness of material. Highly formable and one of the best kinds of aluminum to bend. You have to bend it cold and do so gently and evenly.

This is generalizing as there are ways to bend 6061 but for general bending you use 3003 or 5052 grain direction bend line should go across the grain for the best bend. Material grade 3003 5052 will bend. That is it gets stronger and harder by working bending it. It ll crack on the outside of the bend every time.