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Why do aluminum sheets crack during custom fabrication of sheet-metal enclosures?
03-02
Aluminum panels often develop cracks after bending, and in some cases, these cracks may even propagate into full-blown fractures after anodizing. This has left many custom sheet-metal enclosure manufacturers puzzled: how can cracking be prevented? In this article, Xiao Xuan outlines the primary causes of cracking in bent aluminum panels and highlights key considerations to avoid it.
I. Hardness of Aluminum Sheets:
Aluminum sheets with excessively high hardness are prone to cracking. Therefore, selecting high-quality aluminum is crucial, which primarily depends on the alloy grade and temper condition. Commonly used grades include the 1xxx, 3xxx, and 5xxx series; the 6xxx and 7xxx series, by contrast, exhibit overly high hardness and are more easily bent after being annealed to the O temper. In addition, the quality of the aluminum sheet itself plays a significant role: imported materials of the same grade are generally less likely to crack than domestic ones, though they come at a substantially higher cost.
II. Custom aluminum sheet thickness for sheet metal enclosures:
Thick aluminum sheets are difficult to bend, so it’s obvious that we should use thinner sheets whenever possible.
Custom Sheet Metal Enclosures
III. Dimensions of the bend radius:
The larger the bend radius, the higher the success rate; therefore, maximize the bend radius whenever possible.
IV. Texture Direction of Aluminum Plate:
The bending direction shall be perpendicular to, rather than parallel with, the grain direction of the aluminum sheet.
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