Press Brake Forming

• A press brake, also known as a brake press or just brake, is a machine tool for bending sheet and plate material, most commonly sheet metal.
• Brake forming is one of the oldest mechanical metal deformation process. During the process, a piece of sheet metal is formed along a straight axis. This may be accomplished by a “V”- shaped, “U”-shaped, or channel-shaped punch and die set.
• Although press braking appears a simple concept, maintaining accuracy can often be quite difficult. Precision bending is a function of both the press, the tooling, and the work-piece material. Material properties such as yield strength, ductility, hardness, and the condition of the material, all affect the amount of spring back of the material.
• The most common industrial press braking process is called air bending. Air bending relies upon three point bending. The angle of the bend is dictated by how far the punch tip penetrates the “V” cavity. The greater the penetration of the punch tip the greater the angle achieved.
• The main benefit of air bending is that it uses much less force than other methods to achieve a 90° bend due to the leverage effect.
• Characteristics of the metal brake forming process include:
• Its ability to form ductile materials,
• Its use in both low and medium production run applications,
• The need for minimal tooling,
• Its suitability to produce smaller parts,
• Its output of long workpieces using a “V”, “U”, channel, or other special punch and dies.
• Press braking is a metal forming process that uses an open-frame single-action press used to bend, blank, corrugate, curl, notch, perforate, pierce, or punch sheet metal or plate.