Which Type Of Aluminum Sheet Bends Best

That s the ideal anyway but the reality is that many parts arrive at the press brake in a less than ideal state.

Which type of aluminum sheet bends best.

They exhibit very high strength making them very difficult to form. Series 7xxx are the aluminum zinc magnesium and aluminum zinc copper alloys. Miserable to bend cracking is very common and cold bending will always weaken the metal. The are mainly used in architectural applications.

A commercially pure aluminum with added manganese to increase its strength 20 stronger than the 1100 grade. Proper bending can be done with annealing the aluminum first although it s not an ideal candidate for formed parts. From a bending perspective it s always best to bend these parts in an annealed state and then temper them to the correct condition. This will give you a nice bend.

6061 t6 aluminum is tempered and notorious for not bending easily. Grain direction bend line should go across the grain for the best bend having said that a typical sharp 90 bend on a piece of 1 8 aluminum sheet should be a minimum 1 8 inside radius use either 3003 or 5052 ideally the bend line should go across the grain. Series 6xxx are the aluminum magnesium silicon alloys. A bending brake will be best suited for shaping flat square sheets of light gauge aluminum.

The most widely used of all aluminum alloys. Heavy gauge aluminum bars or rods must be heat bent using an acetylene torch and vice. These heat treatable alloys exhibit great strength good corrosion resistance and ease of formability. When this is an issue 2024 is commonly used in an anodized finish or in clad form thin surface layer of high purity aluminum known as alclad.

Highly formable and one of the best kinds of aluminum to bend. Aluminium alloy 3003 excellent for bending the best series for forming and thus for bending are the alloy series 3xxx 5xxx and in some cases 6xxx. Aluminium alloy 6063 is a good choice for example while 6082 is more difficult. Basic bending brakes typically retail for around 20 50 and are small enough to fit easily on most work benches or tabletops.