Think about rates of work hardening with different materials

Our ability to work with a wide variety of tubes has made us a market leader in the UK. We have the skills to adapt various types of metal tubing, including alloys of copper, steel, aluminium, and much more. One area where we excel is tube expansion. We can provide this to help clients create tight fitting joints as well as various other tube ends.

Hardening

Tube expansionWhatever the service, whether it is expansion, bending, or something else, it is important to think about work hardening. It can limit what is possible with different tubes. This will depend on the metal and the wall thickness.

Copper and most of its alloys offer the fewest issues. This is because the metals tend to be softer than other substances. As a result they are very ductile and don’t suffer with work hardening.

The other good options are certain non-ferrous metals like Admiralty Brass. These don’t suffer from work hardening at all. Therefore they are easier to deal with and offer fewer challenges.

Sadly a number of very popular types of tubing do suffer with work hardening. This includes metals like stainless steel, carbon steel, and titanium. All three of them actually harden very quickly. That means you need to minimise processing and have to work quickly. In many cases there will only be a small window to expand and adapt the tubes before they are too hard to work further.

Talk to us about tube expansion

Multiform Tubes Ltd works hard to build great relationships with our clients. One of the things that help us to do this is giving them access to our wealth of experience. Many businesses come to us for advice because they know we can help them with designs and more. If they are uncertain what type of metal tubing to use for a project, we can help them to make the decision. We can look at things like workability and other factors so they choose a suitable option.

So, if you are thinking about tube expansion but want to know if there will be issues with work hardening or achieving your goals, please contact us. We would be happy to help you. Then, once you settle on a service, we can deliver accurate products that have been adapted to your exact specs.