We are a business that specialises in providing top quality tubing. Specifically, we are known for being the finest ERW steel tube supplier West Midlands has. With these fantastic tubes at your disposal, you will be able to complete projects effectively. In addition, since we supply everything for competitive rates, you can stick to your budget.
What happens when you bend metal tubes?
One thing that makes ERW tubes such a good choice for projects is they are quite easy to bend. It opens up the options for what you can do. However, you must think about the problems that can happen.
When you bend a metal tube, the cross section material fibres undergo tension. This happens on the exterior of the area. Compression also occurs on the inside of your bend area. Wall thickness on the exterior cross section shall thin out. This happens because of tensile stresses. The exterior wall is normally pulled in towards the part’s neutral axis or centreline.
You may come across a situation where you surpass the ultimate tensile strength of your material. In this scenario, the tube is going to rip along the external bend surface.
The wall thickness existing on the interior of a bend shall thicken. This happens because of the compressive stresses. If you are able to reach the ultimate compressive strength of your material, the tube will undergo localised buckling. This shall result in the ripping of the internal surface. Let us know if you would like to work with the foremost ERW steel tube supplier West Midlands has.
Bending multiple tubes
Another great thing about tube bending is you can work with square or round tubing. The latter doesn’t have as much material when it comes to the majority of highly stressed regions. The plane of highest compression or tension is tangent to the cross section. Due to this fact, it is not as vulnerable to distortion.
As for square tubing, the whole tube wall is parallel to the plane. Because of this, it is exposed to the compressive and tensile stress at the interior and exterior of your bend. Thus, square tubing is more vulnerable to distortion.
Round tubes permit the metal to flow evenly in each direction during bending. What this does is make it easier for you to manage distortion.
Square tube material on the interior of your bend surface has a habit of flowing horizontally. It also expands vertically along the face. These forces behave in a specific way to draw the vertical edges of the tube in. This distorts the cross section into a concave shape.
Physically speaking, it is tougher to manage distortion in square tubes if you compare to round designs. When you design tubing, there is a vital rule of thumb to keep in mind. Tubes become tougher to bend as the wall thickness decreases and outside diameter increases. Factor that in to your designs.
An ERW steel tube supplier in the West Midlands who can cater for most specifications
At Union Steel Tubes, we are certain that we can cover the specifications of our clients. Our certainty comes from the fact that we provide more than 200 different sizes of tube. What’s more we supply square, rectangular, round, and oval shapes. Not to mention, we test each tube before it goes out to ensure there are no faults.
So, please speak to us if you need help from the leading ERW steel tube supplier West Midlands has. You can tell us about your application and we can suggest the right products to use.
