Section Bending

Extensive knowledge and expertise in bending hot and cold materials.

Over the past 50 years, we have developed extensive knowledge and expertise in bending hot and cold components and materials, using conventional and special purpose-built machinery, and testing jigs.

We consider ourselves non-standard specialists and are capable of bending many types of bar and plate sections, including special 'heavy' sections that may prove difficult to source from conventional suppliers and manufacturers.

Our Bending Capabilities

Our production lines of mechanical and hydraulic machines are fully computer programmable, can perform multiple bends using one setting, and process material up to 150mm diameter and 400x80mm flat section.

This ability has helped us acquire contract wins over competitors on several of occasions.

One of our specialties is the ability to form shackles that have initially been hot-formed at each end in a straight unbent condition.

The bending process can be applied to many of the forged components we produce here at Brooks Forgings to create a one-stop solution to many clients' requirements.

Case Study - Lifting Bail Bars

Brooks Forgings was given the opportunity to manufacture and export a requirement for 14 highly specialised lifting bail bars that are used to lift crucibles of molten aluminium at a treatment plant located in Bahrain.

This was the first collaboration project between Brooks Forgings and W.H.Tildesley since they joined the Brooks Engineering Group in April of 2017.

We believe that we are one of a very limited number of manufacturers worldwide who could undertake and complete this project successfully.

The bail bar had to be hot forged to achieve the directional grain flow required for strength and resilience. It was obligatory to provide full traceability and testing at all stages of production. This was supplied to the customer at each stage for approval. The project entailed numerous processes including upset forging, drop forging, hot bending, machining, and an extensive testing regime.

Starting with fully certified and ultrasonically tested AISI 4140 round material, Brooks upset forged both bar ends using one of 16 forging cells on-site. These pre-formed ends were then drop forged by WHT using their 5T Banning power hammer. This stage of the process was critical as both ends had to be formed perfectly parallel. Specially designed jigs and fixtures were used to assist in meeting this requirement.

The components were hot bent to a 51° angle using specially designed tooling, followed by heat treatment to specific parameters in a fully calibrated furnace. Extensive testing was carried out including tensile and charpy with a 15.6T proof load test and magnetic particle inspection witnessed by Lloyds.

All tooling for the project was designed and manufactured in-house. Each bail bar was installed in a test jig that was specifically designed to mirror the final application. Packed suitably in custom-built wooden cases and exported via air freight.

We can assist you with bar bending, plate bending, section bending, and more unique requirements that are considered large bending or heavy bending that is more challenging to achieve and obtain. Please speak with our sales team today and let us offer you a solution.