Glossary

Terms used on our website and in the tube and pipe bending industry

Below is a Glossary of Terms used on the Radius Benders website. We have tried to keep our descriptions short and to the point. If you have any suggestions on improving any of the Glossary of Terms, please do not hesitate to submit your suggestions via our contact form.

Glossary of Terms

Term Description
Anticipated Mandrel Retraction A mandrel bending machine has a mandrel which goes up inside the tube or pipe during bending to stop the material from collapsing during bending. Anticipated mandrel retraction (AMR) is where the bending machine begins to withdraw the mandrel from the tube/pipe before the end of the bend to maintain a good quality bend. On some material when bending without AMR you can get an indentation in the tube/pipe at the end of the bend.
Bending A metal forming process used to form tube and pipe into curves or radii. Bending of tube and pipe forms the material into curves at specific radii (determined by a former or die). Other types of material can be bent including angle, solid bar (square or round), flat bar, rectangular hollow sections (RHS) and square hollow sections (SHS).

Bending material is a very different process to rolling material. Bending material will allow you to achieve much smaller radii (tighter curves) than those you can achieve in rolling. As a result, bending machines are very different in design and operation to a rolling machine.

Example: A 50.8mm (2") round tube can be bent using a 76.2mm (3") centre line radius, whereas the minimum rolling radius would be about 350mm centre line radius.

Centre Line Radius (CLR) The distance from the center of curvature, to the centre line of the tube or pipe, expressed as a measurement, usually in millimeters (mm)
CSM Chiao Sheng Machinery Company Ltd (Taiwan) a leading manufacturer of bending machines and has machines all over the world in the aviation, automotive, ship building, furniture, health care, gym utilities, construction, boiler making, power generation, petrochemical, etc. industries. Radius Benders is proud to be the distributor for CSM machines in Australia and New Zealand.
Pipe & Tube
What is the difference between Pipe and Tube?

Metallurgically they are manufactured from different materials.

Pipe is stronger and used more for structural purposes eg, bollards for carparks, scaffolding in buildings or transporting water on a farm. Tube is not suitable for structural purposes as it is not as strong, however, it is more suitable for items like automotive exhausts, furniture or bed frames.

Tube and pipe are manufactured according to different dimensions. Tube is measured in increments of inches (or millimeters in the case of European standards) according to its outside diameter e.g. ¼", ½", ¾" etc. however pipe is not measured that way.

Pipe is measured to the nominal inside diameter of the “cylinder”, and because there are other variables involved, there is not a standardisation, the reason the term “nominal” is used. Nominal is a changeable term and not as exact as “tube” measurements. With pipe for example you can have 2” (or 50mm) nominal bore (NB) equaling 50 nominal bore with an outside diameter of 60.3 and wall thickness of 3.2. The outside diameter of NB pipe is constant even if the wall thickness differs – e.g. a 50mm or 2” NB pipe will always have the same OD for 2.3, 2.9, 3.2, 4 and 5mm wall thickness

Therefore at Radius Benders, our friendly staff take the time to find out what material you are needing for the results you are wanting to achieve.

Rolling A metal forming process used to form tube and pipe into curves or radii. Rolling of tube and pipe forms the material into curves at specific radii to form arcs or rings. Other types of material can be rolled including angle, solid bar (square or round), flat bar, rectangular hollow sections (RHS) and square hollow sections (SHS).

Rolling material is a very different process to bending material. Rolling material will result in larger radii than those you can achieve in bending. As a result, rolling machines are very different in design and operation to a bending machines.

Single Axis Some bending machines allow for three axis automation. A single axis bending machine will automate bending only i.e. it does not rotate or feed the tube/pipe.
Single Stack Some bending machines allow for more than one die (former) which allows for more than one bending radius. A single stack bending machine will only allow for one die (former) or one bending radius per tooling setup.
Tapping Metal tapping is the process of cutting screw threads by the use of a tap. The tap cuts the thread on the inside of a hole, which creates a “female” surface that acts like a nut (as in nuts and bolts).

Materials such as aluminum, brass, carbon steel, copper, iron, steel, stainless steel, titanium and plastic polymers can be tapped.

Application products and markets include aerospace, medical, construction, military, marine, mining, industrial, robotics, power generation, semiconductor, telecommunications and transportation industries.

Radius Benders, using a TradeMax Tapping Machine (Model: AQ-12-950), is able to tap sizes M3-M12.

Tube & Pipe
Refer to the term "pipe" here.