BENDING

PROCESS

SHEET METAL ENGINEERING FFB 32102

Content:

  Terminology
Bending               
  Descriptions Deformation Zone
       Springback
       Variables of Springback               
Bendability Force and Moment
       Variables of Bendability
Bendforce                           Springback
 ApplicationsBending System            Bend Program      
         Products             
Workpiece Interface
         Uniaxial Tensile Test
Tool/ Dies Equipment
         Air Bending              Mechanical Press
            V-Die Bending
       U-Die Bending              Hydraulic Press
          Wiping (Flanging)      
          Coining
          Bottoming HydroMechanicalPress       
          Double Die Bending Interface
          Rotary
Environment

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What is Bending?

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 Bending is usually defined as "the plastic deformation of a sheet
metal along a straight line".
 This figure shows the most common bending operation, which is
air-bending process using a press brake.

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Terminologies

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  Ri : Internal radius of the
bend 
 Ro: Outer radius of the
bend
 Rm: Mid-surface radius
 Rp: Punch radius
 Rd: Die radius
 C: Clearance
 Wd: Half Die Opening
 Rn: Neutral radius of a
circular bend
 T: Sheet thickness
 q: Bending angle
 Dq: Springback angle
 H: Die height

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Description

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 For industrial applications, the following
predictions are crucial during process design:

 Control of the shape and quality of the bent

part (springback, residual stresses,
wrinkling and/or splitting)
 
 Bendability assessment (determining
minimum bending radius without fracture).
 
 Prediction of bending force.
 

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SpringBack
 Springback is defined as the elastic recovery of the
material after unloading of the tools. Springback results
in a dimensional change in the bent part.

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Springback
 In general, manufacturers are interested in the
final dimensions of the products; therefore, the
angle after unloading is the main parameter to
control in sheet metal bending.  The major
methods used to reduce springback or control the
unloaded bend angle can be listed as follows:

 a, b, e:
Over-bending (compensation)
 c: Bottoming
 d: Coining after bending

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Variables of Spring Back
 Calculating springback:
 After a part is bent, it will springback to some degree,
depending on its geometry and material properties.
The springback equation is:

 Where
 Rf: bend radius after springback

 RI: bend radius before springback

 Sy: yield strength of the material

 E: modulus of elasticity of the material

 T: thickness of the material

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Bendability
 Bendability (the smallest achievable bending radius
without failure) of materials is improved by heating
or application of hydrostatic pressure.  Cracking can
also be eliminated by inducing compression in the
bending direction. Bendability of narrow sheet is
higher than wide sheets.  Narrow sheets are observed
to crack usually at the edges, while wide sheets tend
to crack at the center.

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Variable of Bendability
 Estimating the minimum bend radius:
 Metal can only be bent to a certain angle before
cracks form at the bend and, ultimately, the
workpiece breaks. To predict the smallest
achievable radius that a sheet can be bent to, the
following equation can be used:

 Where
 t: thickness 
 Rmin: minimum bend radius
 r: reduction in area in a tensile test for a given
material (%)
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Bend Force
 Calculating the necessary bending force:
 The bending force is dependent on the sheet thickness
and material. A good approximation of the required
force is:

 Where
 F: force required to form a bend
 L: length of the sheet
 T, t: thickness of the material
 UTS: ultimate tensile strength of the material
 W: die-opening clearance
Applications

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 The purpose of bending is to form sheet metal
along a straight line.  In most cases, a localized
plane strain deformation at the bending
corner is obtained.
 Here are some examples of parts
manufactured by bending.

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Bending System

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 The bending operation can be considered as a
system with seven components: 
 Product

 Workpiece / material

 Equipment

 Tool / die

 Deformation zone

 Interface

 Environment

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Products

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 In practice, the bend angles between 0 and 90
degrees can be obtained easily. For larger
bend angles, additional tooling including a
cam mechanism may be required.

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 Bending is used not only to form the
functional geometries such as edges, flanges,
curls, seams and corrugation, but also to
enhance the stiffness of parts by increasing the
cross sectional moment of inertia.

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Workpiece/Materials

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 Usually, the sheet metal workpieces are made
from the metal coils or blanks, as shown in the
following figures

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 The mechanical properties can be evaluated
by the Uniaxial Tensile Test. A typical tensile
testing machine is shown below:

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Tools and Dies

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SHEET METAL ENGINEERING FFB 32102
Air Bending
 In air bending, there is no need to change any
equipment or dies to obtain different bending
angles because the bend angles are determinated
by punch stroke. The forces required to form the
parts are relatively small, but accurate control of
the punch stroke is necessary to obtain the
desired bend angle.

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V-Die Bending
 In V-bending, the clearance between punch and die
is constant (equal to the thickness of sheet blank). It
is used widely. The  thickness of the sheet ranges
from approximately 0.5 mm to 25 mm.

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U-Die Bending
 U-die bending is performed when two parallel
bending axes are produced in the same operation.
A backing pad is used to force the sheet
contacting with the punch bottom. It requires
about 30% of the bending force for the pad to
press the sheet contacting the punch.

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Wiping Die Bending
 Wiping die bending is also known as flanging. 
One edge of the sheet is bent to 90 while the other
end is restrained by the material itself and by the
force of blankholder/pad . The flange length can
be easily changed and the bend angle can be
controlled by the stroke position of the punch.

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Coining
 In coining,  compressive stress is applied to
bending region to increase the amount of plastic
deformation. This reduces the amount of
springback.

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Bottoming
 In bottom bending, springback is reduced by setting
the final position of the punch such that the clearance
between the punch and die surface is less than the
blank thickness. As a result, the material yields
slightly and reduce the springback. Bottom bending
requires considerably more force (about 50%~60%
more) than air bending.

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Double Die Bending

 Double die bending can be seen as two wiping

operations acting on the workpiece one after
another. Double bending can enhance strain
hardening to reduce springback. 

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Rotary Bending
 Rotary bending is a bending process using a
rocker instead of the punch. The advantages of
rotary bending are:
 a) needs no blankholder

 b) compensates for springback by

overbending
 c) requires less force

 d) more than 90 degree bending angle is

available

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Initial stage   Final stage

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Deformation Zone

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 In deformation zone, sheet metal forming
mechanics must be considered.
The important parameters are:
 1. Strain
2. Stress
3. Bending moment
4. Unloading & springback
5. Prediction of springback
and forming load (Bend program)

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 The following figure illustrates the
deformation modes in a typical sheet
metal air bending operation.

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Strain
 The degree of deformation to which the
material is subjected is defined as Strain.
Stress
 Engineering stress is defined as the ratio of the
applied load to the original cross sectional area.
 True stress is defined as the ratio of the applied load
to the instantaneous cross sectional area.
Force and Moment
 The bending force is a function of the strength
of the material, the length of the bent sheet,
the thickness of the sheet and the width of the
die opening.
 Usually, the stress in the part is assumed to
have a linear distributation, and the stress in
the neutral surface is zero because the strain is
zero.

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 Also, the neutral surface shifting should be
considered when the bent corner radius is relatively
small with respect to the sheet thickness.

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Springback
 Because all materials have a finite modulus of
elasticity, plastic deformation is followed by
elastic recovery upon removal of the load. In
bending, the recovery is known as springback.
Bend Program

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 A mathematical model for straight flanging
process and springback was developed at
ERC/NSM, and it has been implemented to a
computer program called BEND, the
following figure is its users' window interface.
Interface

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 As shown in the figures below, there are four
modes of lubrication conditions
 In sheet metal bending, the friction does not
have much effect upon the process. Usually,
the coefficient of friction is about 0.06 to 0.1.
 Where Coefficient of friction is defined as:
   [Maximum friction force] / [Force acting
normal to the surface]

 (a) fluid film lubrication

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 (b) boundary lubrication

 (c) solid lubrication

 (d) dry friction

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Equipment

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 Some of the bending and flanging operations
are conducted in mechanical or hydraulic
stamping press.For example, when using
progressive dies or in stamping operations, the
bending action is built-in into the tooling
actuated by the press ram. However, in
general, air bending is conducted in a special
press, called "press brake". Three types of
press brakes are commonly used:
 Mechanical Press brake
 Hydraulic press brake
 Hydro-Mechanical press brake

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  Each of these designs has its own special
features and usage. Press brake capacities are
established from the tonnage required to air
bend a 90 degree in mild steel - 60000 psi
tensile strength - over a female die having an
opening of about eight times the sheet
thickness. [Lange, Handbook of Metal
Forming, 1986]In bending materials such as
aluminum and soft brass, tonnage
requirements are much lower than that for
steel since the required press load is a function
of the tensile strength of the mateial.
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Mechanical Press Break
 A mechanical press brake uses a motor, flywheel and
eccentrics to convert the rotary motion of the motor and
flywheel into a vertical or reciprocating motion for the
punch/ram.

 Advantage:
 High speed flywheel rotation allows a large number of
cycles per minute. When the flywheel approaches stroke
bottom, it often has enough momentum to drive the dies
beyond the rated capacity of the press.
 
 Disadvantage:
 At the exact bottom point, the tonnage capability of the
press reaches infinity and is limited only by the capacity of
the frame. High tonnage coining techniques may cause tool
damage or/and locking of the press at the Bottom Dead
Center (BDC).

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The figure shows cross section schematic of a
Mechanical Press Brake.

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Hydraulic Press Break
 Hydraulic Press utilizes a motor and a pump to
move hydraulic oil into the top of the cylinder to
exert pressure to move the punch/ram. The
tonnage of a hydraulic press brake is directly
proportional to the oil pressure and the area of
the piston under pressure.

 Advantage:
 The punch speed can be controlled easily by
adjusting the oil flow.
 
 Disadvantage:
 Compared with mechanical press, fewer cycles
per minute, and no additional tonnage capability
available.
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SHEET METAL ENGINEERING FFB 32102
Hydro Mechanical Press
Break
 A single hydraulic cylinder powers a
mechanical linkage system to bend, punch or
form material. This unique design provides
full tonnage at any point across the bed,
assures parallel movement of the ram
regardless of off-center loading and yields +/- .
001" repeatability

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SHEET METAL ENGINEERING FFB 32102
 Safety

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 The lubricants used in sheet metal forming
must be recycled and process should not cause
harmful noise to human's ears.
 Here are some general safety tips for
operation process brake [Benson, S. Press
Brake Technology, 1997]:
 Never put any part of your body between the
punch and die.
 Never let your fingers or body parts come
between your workpiece and the machine.
 

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 Never hold your workpiece over the top of a
previous bend.
 Never place your face and upper body in the
way of workpiece movement.
 Never sit in front of the press brake, as you
may be able to move out the way quickly
enough in an emergency.
 Never interrupt someone or allow yourself to
be interrupted when operating a press brake.

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SHEET METAL ENGINEERING FFB 32102
 SHEET METAL ENGINEERING FFB 32102

Thank You….