How Does The Material Grade Affect the Metal Bending Accuracy?
Metal bending is a common fabrication process used in different construction and automotive industries. Among the different important factors, the material grade or quality is often overlooked. For bespoke manufacturing, attention is given to the type of machine, tooling, and the level of operator skills. The metal grade you choose can affect the metal-bending process and help fabricators achieve faster, better results without incurring costly errors.
Role of material grade in metal bending
Material grade can be defined as a particular composition, strength, and mechanical properties that are present in a metal. The grades can be different even for the same type of metal. For instance, for steel and aluminium, different grades of the metal are identified by their tensile strength, yield strength, ductility, and hardness. These properties directly influence the material, and it responds when force is applied to the metal. For metal bending in Tividale, knowing the grade is essential.
How does the material grade affect the bending behaviour?
In metal bending, springback is the most common tendency. This is the nature of metal, which causes it to return slightly toward its original shape after bending. As material grades increase, metals have greater spinback capacity. On the other hand, when the metal grades are lower, the sprinback capacity is low. For instance
- Mild steel generally bends easily and doesn’t spring back
- High-strength steel, on the other hand, requires more force and tooling adjustments to bend properly.
- Aluminium grades bend smoothly and do not crack or spring back.
When you choose the right grade, you can expect better control over material grades, and when bending the material, you can reduce trial-and-error and opt for the metal grade that bends easily.
How do consistency and repeatability play an important role?
Bending accuracy isn’t just about achieving the correct angle once; rather, it’s about doing it consistently across different parts. Lower-grade metals will vary in thickness and strength. This leads to the development of uneven bends and dimensional inaccuracies.
When you use high-quality, certified material grades throughout the construction process, you will not face any inconsistencies in the Bending angle. This is because the high-grade certified materials have uniform properties throughout the sheet or bar. This consistency helps the fabricators bend the metal according to the requirement and repeat the same for batch production.
Impact on tolerance and final fittings
The material grade also affects the tolerance and the final fit. The softer, more ductile materials allow for higher tolerances and clear bends. On the contrary, the harder materials will require wider tolerances. Spring-back capacity is an essential component of the impact on tolerance. Hence, choosing the correct grade is important for helping welders during the early design phase. This helps in preventing alignment issues. Later, while assembling the metals during production.
At Fereday Cylinder Company, we specialise in metal bending and forming, offering services in press braking, plate rolling, and tube manipulation. Reach out to us for fast emtal bending services.