Manufacturier de presses hydrauliques

Press brakes and ductility

29 septembre 2011

We use products made of metal in our day to day lives. The mug in which you drank your coffee on your way to work this morning was probably made of metal. You chose a metal mug because it keeps the liquid inside of it nice and warm and also because it was fitted to fit snugly in the cup holder of your car. But, did you ever wonder how the metal was transformed into the little mug that you use on a daily basis? What characteristics makes metal bend into the various forms that we need?

Ductility:
Ductility is a property that is specific only to metal. The definition of ductility according, to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary is “capable of being fashioned into a new form”. Ductility basically means that a solid material can be bended or deformed without cracking or breaking apart. The bending possibilities with a ductile material like metal are endless.

Bending:
Bending is the process used to transform materials like metal into many different shapes. Certain metals like copper, can be bent with bare hands while others like stainless steel, require tools or machines in order for it to be bent into a specific form. Hydraulic presses can apply enough force to hold a piece of metal in place and have an overhang drop on it in order to bend it into different forms. The metal bends because the outer side of it is being bended while the inner part is being compressed. That way, the metal can take form without breaking.

Resistance:
Not all metals cooperate nicely when it comes to bending them. Some are less ductile than others. A metal that has less ductility will require greater force for it to be bent. Once the bending process is over, it will sometimes spring back into the shape it was before. Another problem with metals that are resistant to bending is that crack lines can sometimes form along the bended lines, so the person doing the bending has to apply enough force to bend the metal without breaking it.

Hydraulic machines are the equipment of choice when it comes to bending metal into the shapes that we need to live our everyday lives. The press brake, which is a more complex type of hydraulic machine, can be program to bend metal into various types of shapes. Those types of presses can be programmed to bend metal into many different shapes, from the simplest to the most complex. 

http://www.advantagefabricatedmetals.com/press-braking-process.html

http://www.custompartnet.com/wu/sheet-metal-forming#bending