V-Groove Plate

If you’ve ever seen a bent architectural panel bend with an outside radius that’s tight for the material thickness, it likely was formed using V-grooving. There are many facets of this process to understand.

When a V-groove is cut on metal plate, it reduces the thickness at the bending point. This significantly reduces the bending force required.

Thickness

V-Grooving can reduce the thickness of a sheet or plate at bend locations, making it easier to bend the workpiece. This technique is commonly used in industries that require high precision metal sheet processing such as elevator, stainless V-Groove Plate steel decoration, and security doors. It also improves the appearance of the finished product by reducing color changes or other defects caused by lateral tensile stresses during bending.

The V-groove can also help to eliminate the “crazing” effect seen on some prepainted aluminum. This occurs when the surface paint doesn’t stretch well during the forming process. V-grooving allows the shop to form the piece without crazing by reducing the outside bend radius.

Another benefit of V-grooving is that it helps to minimize springback during bending. This is especially important when bending long, narrow flanges. It also enables the use of common press brake and toolings for forming workpieces that would be difficult or impossible to form with traditional air bending methods.

Compared to V-grooves, U and J grooves are more prone to welding defects. These defects are often caused by inadequate tracer control, improper groove shape, and insufficient heat input. This makes them less desirable for applications that are time sensitive or require a high degree of accuracy in weld preparation. Despite these drawbacks, they can still be a good choice for some applications because they require less weld metal than their V-groove counterparts.

Strength

V-grooving is a great solution for shops that need to bend extremely small inside radius workpieces. Traditional air bending produces stress cracks on the outside of the bend because it thins the material too much at the neutral axis of the part, but a V-groove allows a shop to produce these tight radii with standard acute tools. V-grooving can be done on a shaper machine, which uses linear movement to use a single point of a cutter to cut a path on a flat surface, similar to the way a lathe cuts a path on a cylindrical object.

The V-groove also reduces the amount of forming tonnage needed, which allows for thicker materials to be bent. It also increases the tensile strength of the workpiece at the bend radius. In some applications, this increased tensile strength is important, such as when bending prepainted aluminum to prevent crazing (small cracks in the surface paint) at the inside of the bend.

Another benefit of V-grooving is that it improves the look and straightness of the workpiece’s round edge after a weld. It also helps to reduce the buckling and distortion that occurs in long, narrow workpieces. The welded joint created by a V-groove weld is strong, visually appealing, and can be made to meet strict dimensional requirements. For this reason, it’s often used in the elevator and security door industries.

Weldability

V-grooved plate can help to reduce the amount of time and filler metal required to complete a weld. It can also improve the weldability of thicker material, as it allows for full penetration welding from both sides. However, V-grooving is not appropriate for every project or application. It’s important to understand the limitations and benefits of this process before using it.

For instance, V-grooving will reduce oil canning (waviness) on the metal surface, but it won’t eliminate it completely. It is still possible to experience this problem in large or thick panels, especially with traditional air forming techniques. The reason for this is manufacturing fiber optic passive components that the v-groove reorients the material’s tensile stress to the weakest point—the center of the curve—and it can cause the formation of waviness or other defects in the panel surface.

There are a few ways to solve this problem, but not all of them will work well for all applications. For example, some companies use a specialized welding technique called “K” weld joints. This type of weld is not suitable for thin materials, because it can deform the sheet and prevent it from bending correctly.

Another option is to use a square groove weld. This type of weld is not as angular, which makes it easier to work with. However, it can be difficult to get the electrode into the root of the weld to perform a full-penetration weld. Therefore, it’s often used on thicker materials as a partial joint penetration (PJP) groove weld.

Durability

V-Grooving is a viable option for bending architectural panels with very tight bend radii. When a metalworker sees an exterior panel that’s been bent to a radius that’s exceptionally tight for its thickness, and it looks perfect – free of any cracking or discoloration – chances are that it was formed using V-grooving.

V grooving also helps reduce oil canning, waviness in the metal surface that’s created by compressive forces during bending. Conventional air forming can produce this condition, but v-grooving significantly reduces the material thickness near the bending point, which mitigates these forces.

Another benefit of V-grooving is that it makes it easier to develop accurate flat blanks for bending. When a piece of plate or sheet is V-grooved, it must be cut very shallowly – no deeper than 0.078 in. This prevents heat buildup, which can ruin the appearance and increase burrs in the resulting groove.

V-grooving can also help you achieve sharp bends with less effort than other bending methods. For example, a solid bar metal might require several passes to bend to the desired radius, but V-grooving can be achieved in one pass by simply moving the cutter over the material twice. This can help you avoid the labor and cost of a CNC machine, and improve the productivity and quality of your fabrication process.