Bending

Reference: Schulder, Metal

Forming Handbook, Springer,
1998, chapter 4.

Bending Radius
 On principle, the should assume the values
recommended by DIN 6935, i.e. they should
be selected from the following series
(preferably using the values in bold type):
 1 1,2 1,6 2 2,5 3 4 5 6 8 10 12 16 20 25 28
32 36 40 45 50 63 80 100 etc.

1
Rolling direction
 When bending sheet metal, particular
attention should also be paid to the
rolling direction.
 The most suitable direction for bending

is transverse to the direction of rolling.

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

2
 Bending

FIGURE 7.15 (a) Bending terminology. The bend radius is measured to the inner surface of the bend. Note
that the length of the bend is the width of the sheet. Also note that the bend angle and the bend radius
(sharpness of the bend) are two different variables. (b) Relationship between the ratio of bend radius to
sheet thickness and tensile reduction of area for various materials. Note that sheet metal with a reduction
of area of about 50% can be bent and flattened over itself without crackling. Source: After J. Datsko and C.
T. Yang.
Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Bending Allowance
An approximate formula for the bend allowance, Lb, is given by

Lb 
R kt 

Bend angle
R Bend radius
k constant
t Sheet thickness

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

3
 Minimum Bend Radii
Theoretically, the strains at the outer and inner fibers are equal in magnitude and are
given by the equation

Assume natural line is at R+0.5t

e0 ei  1
2 R / t 1 (7.5)

The true strain at fracture in tension is

A0   100 
e f ln
A f
ln
   r Reduction of area of the sheet
  100 r 

Minimum Bend Radii

From Section 2.2.2, true-strain is

   R t 
0 ln 
1 e0 ln
1 1
ln 
 2R / t 
1  R 
t / 2


The true strain Equating the two expressions and simplifying,

we obtain

Minimum R 50 1 (7.6)

t r

The curve that best fits the data shown in the figure to the
right is

Minimum R 60 1 (7.7)

t r
Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

4
 Minimum Bend Radii

MATERIAL MATERIAL CONDITION

SOFT HARD
Aluminum alloys 0 6T
Beryllium copper 0 4T
Brass, low-leaded 0 2T
Magnesium 5T 13T
Steels
austenitic stainless 0.5T 6T
low-carbon, low-alloy, and HSLA 0.5T 4T
Titanium 0.7T 3T
Titanium alloys 2.6T 4T

TABLE 7.2 Minimum bend radii for various materials at room temperature.

Springback
 The angle ratio is the so-called springback factor kR,
which depends on the material characteristics and
the ratio between the bending radius and sheet
metal thickness (r/s):

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

5
 Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Springback

6
 Residual stress
 Bending causes residual stresses in the
workpiece.
 The smaller the bending radius relative to the
sheet metal thickness, the greater these
stresses are.
 When a subsequent heat treatment is used to
reduce residual stresses in the workpiece, it is
important to remember that heat treatment
alters the workpiece radii and the angles.

Deformation of the cross

section during bending

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

7
Determining the blank length for
bent workpieces (I)
 The blank length of the part to be bent is not equal to the
fiber length located at the center of the cross section after
bending.
 The extended length of bent components 1 [mm] is
calculated as

whereby a [mm] and b [mm] stand for the lengths of the two
bent legs, and v [mm] is a compensation factor which can be
either positive or negative

Geometry of bent legs

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Determining the blank length for

bent workpieces (II)

8
Length of Bend And Edge
Condition/Ratio of Bend Radius

FIGURE 7.16 The effect of length

of bend and edge condition on the
ratio of bend radius to thickness of
7075-T aluminum. Source: After G.
Sachs and G. Espey.

The Effect of Elongated

Inclusions

FIGURE 7.17 (a) and (b) The

effect of elongated inclusions
(stringers) on cracking as a
function of the direction of
bending with respect to the
original rolling direction of the
sheet. This example shows the
importance of the direction of
cutting from large sheets in
workpieces that are
subsequently bent to make a
product. (c) Cracks on the
outer radius of an aluminum
strip bent to an angle of 90˚ .

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

9
 Springback in Bending
Bend allowance  t
i 
Ri  
t

R f   Ri , R f Initial and final bend radii
 2  2f

f 2 R / t 1
The springback factor is defined as Ks 
i
 i

2 R f / t 1  (7.9)

FIGURE 7.18 Terminology for springback

in bending. Springback is caused by the
elastic recovery of the material upon
unloading. In this example, the material
tends to recover toward its originally flat
shape. However, there are situations
where the material bends farther upon
unloading (negative springback), as
shown in Fig. 7.20.
Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Springback in Bending

An approximate formula for estimating spring back is

3
Ri R Y  R Y 
4 i  3 i 1 (7.10)
Rf Et  Et 

FIGURE 7.19 Springback factor K, for

various materials: (a) 2024-0 and 7075-0
aluminum; (b) austenitic stainless steels; (c)
2024-T aluminum; (d) 1/4- hard austenitic
stainless steels; (e) 1/2-hard to full-hard
austenitic stainless steels. Source: After G. Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.
Sachs.

10
 Negative Springback

FIGURE 7.20 Schematic illustration of the stages in bending round wire in a V-die.
This type of bending can lead to negative springback, which does not occur in air
bending (shown in Fig. 7.26a). Source: After K. S. Turke and S. Kalpakjian.
Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Methods of Reducing or
Eliminating Springback

FIGURE 7.21 Methods of reducing or eliminating springback in bending

operations. Source: V. Cupka, T. Nakagawa, and H. Tyamoto.
Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

11
Roll forming: roll bending in
several stages

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Rolling and Folding

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

12
Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

13
Roll bend radius

Strain=(R+0.5s)/R
ReL=Strain*E

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

14
Start-stop roll forming line

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Roll stands

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

15
Width adjustable telescopic
roll set

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Roll stand for exchange of

section rolls

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

16
 Stand for a complete stand
exchange

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Roller straightening with 13

rollers

 Bending and counter bending must each take place within the
plastic range of the material in order to ensure that the bending
direction is retained following elastic recovery, i. e. the yield
strength of the material must be exceeded.
 On the other hand, care must be taken to ensure that the
straightened material does not sustain damage.
 If bending is too pronounced, brittle materials can develop slight
cracks at the surface.
Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

17
 Reduction of residual stress

 The reduction of residual stress is highly

beneficial for further processing.
 The larger the number of rollers used, the
lower is the residual stress in the sheet metal
after straightening.

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Residual stresses in the sheet

metal

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

18
 The feed value
 The feed value zw for the
rollers is limited by the
geometry of the straightening
machine

 with the roller radius Rw [mm],

sheet metal thickness s [mm]
and roller pitch tw [mm].

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

Roller straightening machine for

larger sheet metal thickness range
from 0.5 to 20 mm in thickness

Ref: Schulder, Metal Forming Handbook, Springer, 1998, chapter 4.

19