tips to form 1/8" 6061 aluminum 1

[joedirte]

need some advice on how to form 1/8" aluminum... flat plate that needs to have a 90 degree bend with smallest radius possible... part needs to cosmetically appealing (polished mirror finish)i have to be able to minimize stress marks. best tip to heat appropriately...

 

[MechEng13]

joedirte,

The best way to get the 90° is to use a Pressbrake...to retain the cosmetic appearance you would probably have to use "DieThane"? urethane die guides.

As for the smallest radius possible it's generally said that with most materials you don't want to go less than 1.5x the matieral thickness.

To truly determine what you can do you would need to talk to a fabricator in your area familiar with forming Al alloys...the alloy makes a difference.

What kind of heating are you wanting to do..with the right tools you can form the angle and not need to add heat?



Alan M. Etzkorn
Product Engineer
Nixon Tool Co.

http://www.nixontool.com

 

[kenvlach]

What Al alloy in what temper? The minimum bend radius for 1/8 inch Al sheet varies from 0” for annealed Al 1100 to 1” for Al 7178-T6. See the info and tables at

http://www.engineersedge.com/sheet_metal.htm

and

http://www.precisionsheetmetal.com/home/materials.htm#Aluminum Bend Radii

A mirror finished Al alloy is more likely to be fairly soft rather than a heat-treated alloy full of precipitates, but again, check the alloy and temper. I would try to avoid heating; it isn’t a good idea to heat heat-treatable alloys, anyway, and they cost twice as much. If you have a choice, buy a softer Al alloy as mirror finish sheet with a protective plastic film, and don’t remove the film until after bending.

 

[beddawy]

You might want purchase the material with a plastic film, which would help in the process of forming, also you might want check the environemt around the brake press (temprature) is an important factor. after the form process then pull thin film and polish.
hope that helps

 

[btrueblood]

You can bend 6061 alloy in T4 temper. Unfortunately, it's hard to come by in T4 temper, since this is an age-hardening alloy, and will slowly harden over time at room temp. But, if you can find somebody to provide you with "fresh" T4 alloy, just about any press can bend it fairly sharply. If you need the T6 properties after bending, you then need to heat treat to age-harden it. The heat treatment for 6061 is not that difficult to accomplish (350 to 400 deg. F overnight will get an over-aged condition which has the best fatigue resistance; you can accomplish this with your wife's oven at home if she doesn't catch you and the part isn't too big. Or ask your local powder-coating house if they can do the work).

Ben T