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Metal BendingMetal bending is a metal forming process in which metal can be manipulated through plastically deforming the material and then changing its shape. During metal bending, the metal is stressed beyond its yield strength, but below its ultimate tensile strength. Usually referring to the deformation about one axis, metal bending does not significantly change the surface area of the metal. A flexible process, metal bending produces a wide variety of different shapes using standard die sets. Metal bending is accomplished using press brakes. Press brakes are presses that consist of an open frame, a wide bed, and a moveable ram, which typically have a weight capacity ranging from 20 to 200 tons. How big or small the press brake is depends upon the specific metal bending application. Metal bending processes are used to form metal parts from metals such as aluminum, cold rolled steel, copper, galvanized steel, brass, structural steel and stainless steel. Typical metal parts formed from metal bending include gun barrels, boilers, fitness equipment, waveguides, tubular furniture components, sheets, pipes, plates and other metal structural components. Industries that utilize metal bending services include architecture, furniture, electronics, automotive, aerospace, construction, medical, industrial, HVAC and marine. There are two main types of metal bending: air bending and bottoming, also referred to as coining. In air bending, the punch, or ram, touches the work piece and the work piece not bottoming in the lower cavity. When the ram is released, the workpiece ends up with less bend than that on the die, which is called spring back. In bottoming or coining, the punch and the workpiece both bottom on the die. This metal bending service creates a controlled angle with little spring back. In addition to the two main types of metal bending, there are five other common types including V-bending, U-die bending, wiping die bending, double die bending and rotary bending. V bending is a widely used metal bending process in which the clearance between the die and the ram is constant and equal to the sheet blank’s thickness. In U-die bending, there must be two parallel bending axes produced in the same operation. In this metal bending method, a backing pad is used in order to force the sheet blank into contact with the bottom of the ram. Also known as flanging, wiping die bending bends one edge of the sheet to 90º, while the other edge is restrained by the metal itself as well as the force created by a blank-holder and pad. In double die bending, two back-to-back wiping operations are acted upon the workpiece. In rotary bending a rocker is used in the place of a ram, which offers advantages such as requiring less force and enabling an angle greater than 90º.
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