Creep, and Fatigue Data at High and Low Temperatures (118), which was

used to prepare Table 8.23.

You�ll want to carefully monitor the time and temperature of any heating
above about 150#F [66#C]. This can be done by marking the metal with heat
crayons with known melting points: when the marking starts to run, the metal
has reached a benchmark temperature. Unlike steel, heating aluminum doesn�t
change its color while the metal is in a solid state, so you can�t gauge the
temperature of a piece of aluminum by looking at it, and you don�t want to
try by touching it. Most fabricators simply avoid the practice of heating aluminum
for cutting or forming. Where aluminum must be heated above 400#F
[200#C] in specific areas (such as at welds), the strength reduction is accounted
for in structural calculations. Methods for addressing this effect from
welding are discussed in Chapter 9.
Sheet and plate may be formed by various operations. Roll forming of sheet
is used to make cross sections with full-length bends (Figure 3.15), such as
for roofing and siding panels produced in large quantities, but it has high
initial tooling costs. Press brakes are commonly used to form bends of various
configurations. Brake capacity needed to form aluminum sheet and plate can
be calculated from capacities given for steel by ratioing by the aluminum
yield strength to the steel yield strength. Many commonly used aluminum
sheet alloys require less brake capacity than steel.
Minimum bend radii for 90# cold bends for some alloy tempers and thicknesses
are given in the Aluminum Design Manual, Part VII, Table 6�1. These
radii are the smallest recommended in a standard press brake without fracturing
and should be verified on trial pieces before production. Minimum bend
radii for aluminum are generally greater than those for steel, so you should
consider them carefully to avoid cracking (20). For heat-treatable alloys,
bending at right angles to the direction that plate or sheet was rolled or
extruded helps prevent cracks. For non-heat-treatable alloys, bends should be
parallel to the direction of rolling to minimize cracking. Maximum sheet
thickness for 180# cold bends (metal to metal) of some alloy tempers is given
in the Design Manual, Part VII, Design Aids, Table 6-3, which is useful for
designing sections with lockseams, such as that shown in Figure 3.16. For
some alloy tempers and thicknesses, ASTM B209 gives the minimum diameter
of a pin around which the material can be wrapped 180# without cracking.
The fact that a radius is usually required at bends affects cross-sectional
dimensions. The sum of the outside dimensions of a bent cross section is
different from the sum of the flat lengths (see Figure 3.17). There are two
reasons for this difference: the material stretches slightly when bent, and the
distance along a radius at the bends is less than the straight line distance to
the point of intersection of the flat lengths. The Aluminum Design Manual,
Part VI, Table 4, gives values for this difference, called the developed length
of a bend. Another method for accounting for the effect of bends on dimensions
is the following equation, which also applies to bend angles other than
90#: