What is the best material for press brake tooling?

If you are bending or shaping metal, press brake tooling plays a very important role. Press brake tooling includes dies and punches used with a press brake to form, bend or flatten sheet metal. What type of tooling used for the fabrication of your metal parts will determine how efficient or not that operation will be. Usually, the press brake tooling is made of steel, but there are still plenty of types of steel to choose from. This article reviews the different materials for press brake tooling which may help you make the best decision.

The Content list:

1/ Why the material of press brake tooling is important?

2/ Different types of steels

3/ How to maintain press brake tooling?

Why the material of press brake tooling is important?

Tooling and brake’s interaction with tooling can expand equipment capabilities and make single-part bending much more affordable. The hardness and resistance, as well as the toughness, are two of the most important criteria when selecting the appropriate cutting steel. Because these characteristics usually counteract each other, compromises often need to be made when choosing.

Different types of steels

The selection of the cutting steel as well as its working hardness depends mainly on the thickness and strength of the material to be cut. The greater the thickness and strength of the strip material, the higher the loads on the active parts of the die.

1/ High-speed steel. The high-speed steel 1.3343 (HSS) is used as a standard material for dies and cutting elements. Compared to the material 1.2379, it has higher wear resistance and hardness. It is used for medium-strength strip material and especially for thick sheets.

2/ Power metallurgy steel. Due to their homogeneous structure, power metallurgical steels have very high toughness. The material grade 1.3344 PM is used for dies and cutting punches with high loads. It is particularly used for strip material with strengths up to approximately 600 N/mm^2.

3/ Steel for through hardening. The material grade 1.2379 is considered the ‘classic’ steel in die making. The material is also used as a whole cutting die plate, as it has very good dimensional stability after hardening.

How to maintain press brake tooling?

Lubrication and cleanliness become especially important in certain applications, in particular when the material being informed has a tendency to foul or gall the tooling. Press brake tools should, as often as possible, be coated in a film of light oil. The reduction in friction decreases the pressure required to form a bend. For high-tonnage applications, this difference can bring a bend that your press brake just barely cannot finish to one that is within its capacity. However, of course, working with well-oiled tooling poses a potential hazard if not handled with care. Tooling with oil on it will be slippery and an operator must be able to safely load and remove tools from the machine, as well as into and out of storage.

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