When forming a specific section to a radius you may not have previously formed to; experts usually use a four factors to forecast the successful outcome of a bend.
- Cross sectional geometry / rend radii
- Historic data
- Material certificate analysis
- End use of the product / tolerances
This relates to most sections that are formed by a variety of methods, aluminium extrusion profile bending and induction pipe bending are both similar in this respect for analysis.
R & D, the additional factor
There is also an additional factor that needs to be taken into account; the machine, and tooling set up. This really becomes apparent when forming on the limit and really sets apart the experienced bending companies with continual investment in R & D from others.
Normally our induction benders form to a standard of 2D. (centreline radius. = 2 x diameter)
HSS / Square hollow section Is usually recommended to 2.5D depending upon the thickness.
Recently we gave advice to a customer regarding the bendability of a section. We felt 2.5d for the 10” x 10” HSS would be OK.
Seeing the result put a smile on our faces,.the bend was perfect with no deformation, It really showed that the new tooling designed by Inductaflex helped helped the end result.
The thickness reduction on the outside was below the expected by calculation and well within the tolerances for the project.
Now, using the same methodology, 2D bends in large HSS sections are possible. Cetainly 16” x 8” (400 x 200mm) can be formed to 32” centreline radius / (600mm inside radius)
Looking at other similar bends that are in the market, it is clear that Inductaflex customers have a huge quality advantage over their competitors when it comes to SHS/ HSS/ square tube bending.