Sheet Metal Work Hardening

Steps to annealing place your work hardened metal on a safe soldering board or charcoal block.

Sheet metal work hardening.

Examples of cold rolled products include steel sheets strips bars and rods. Work hardening increases the bending force needed and also the chance of cracking. Although the first few deformations imposed on metal by such treatment weaken it its strength is increased by continued deformations. Bending metal makes the crystals side over one another.

The explanation of why work hardening of most metal alloys is required for stretchability and bendability was discussed last month. If you look at aluminum sheet as an example the 3000 series grades work harden very little while the 7000 s demonstrate significant hardening. Take a permanent marker and use it to draw a line on your metal sheet. In some grades of some materials they move easily but in others they quickly lock together.

Work hardening in metallurgy increase in hardness of a metal induced deliberately or accidentally by hammering rolling drawing or other physical processes. One key role of work hardening is to minimize the development of strain gradients which are highly localized peak tensile strains accompanied by localized sheetmetal thinning. Take your torch and set it on the largest flame that you can. The applications of the rules of plasticity elasticity and work hardening are critical in any but the simplest work with body metal.

This has the effect of increasing the metal s hardness. Cold rolling is the most common method of work hardening. Work hardening is the characteristic of metal that causes it to become progressively harder to deform in those area s where its elastic limit is exceeded as its shape is changed.