Which Sheet Steel?
Which Sheet Steel?
(OP)
I'm looking to make a type of L-bracket with a formed gusset out of sheet steel. Aluminum looks like it won't cut it for strength. Any recommendations for which type of sheet steel (~1/8" thick) would provide greatest strength and formability?
Thanks
Thanks





RE: Which Sheet Steel?
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
As for yield strength, I was looking to see how strong of a material we could reasonably use, then adjust geometry accordingly
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
I deal mostly with aluminum & SST but I suspect a Google search will find you at least one sheet metal shop that has some guidelines.
Also, be careful when you say strength, some grades of Aluminum are comparable to some steels.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
We've further refined the requirements and we are looking for ~400 MPa yield strength.
What about spring steels like 1074/1075? Would that be too hard to form?
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
What type of tooling is the proposed part going to be produced on? Open setup with press brake, or a dedicated forming die with trimming operations afterward? If you are making parts on a press brake, the formability is probably not going to be an issue, unless there are constraints that you haven't mentioned yet.
RE: Which Sheet Steel?
A569 gives 36,000 psi yield with 1T formability.
A715 Grade 50 gives 50,000 psi yield with 1/2T formability.
A715 Grade 80 gives 80,000 psi yield with 1 1/2T formability.
Availibility may be a problem with A715 depending on your volumes.
I would recommend the A569 based availability and price.