Steel Section Bending

Section bending, also called profile bending, at Chicago Metal is done in a wide variety of metals in various ways. First of all, the curving of standard mill shapes—angles, bars, beams, channels, tees, pipe, and tube, are all part of section bending. It is also the case that aluminum extrusions, even extremely complex sections of aluminum, can be rolled and formed into a ring. Then there are steel sections that are cold formed; for example, an angle can be formed out of plate in a press brake and then bent to a prescribed radius. In this case, special tooling would be required to ensure that the two legs of the angle stay the same length throughout the bending process. Other steel sections that can be formed and then bent into a ring or ring segment include channels, outward wing channels, and inward wing channels. Section bending, therefore, comprises all types of profile bending. Steel tube bending is one of the most common types of profile bending.

View all of our steel sections and how they are bent here

Section Bending Value-Added Services

In addition to the punching, welding, cutting, drilling and grinding that can be done on all steel sections or other metals, Chicago Metal Rolled Products can form the straight angles, for example, that would be then bent into a ring or curved segment. We operate numerous presses up to 250 Ton 16 ft. long to form angles, channels and other sections for single-source service on these parts. Having press brakes to do our own forming of angles improves the quality of the product and speeds response time.

Section Bending Applications

Aluminum extruded sections can be seen in microwave, point-to-point antennas. Other complex aluminum sections are used as turrets for machine gun mounts on military equipment.

Formed channels can often be seen on the corners of the luggage conveyors at airports. Curved unistrut inward-wing-channel sections can be seen guiding the rollers holding up the curtains around a hospital bed or supporting hooks for shirts in a laundry. Curved formed angles can be seen as the base for tanks.