Window and façade engineering
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Application area: aluminium windows
Aluminium shapes modern window construction: corrosion-free, dimensionally stable and low-maintenance, and in thermally insulated designs also up to date in terms of energy efficiency.
For PBT profile bending machines, aluminium is a standard material alongside steel and copper. In window and facade construction, it is used to produce bent window elements with reinforcement, precisely formed aluminium sills, and circular and pivot windows in round shapes. Aluminium window profiles with thermal breaks pose a particular challenge: the plastic bridge between the aluminium shells is considerably more brittle than the metal and can crack during bending. Such composite profiles therefore require an especially gentle, controlled bending process. For thin-walled and delicate hollow chamber profiles, we offer the mandrel bending attachment: it operates virtually slip-free by synchronising machine and mandrel feed, enabling tight radii without wrinkling or collapse of the profile, down to around 2.5 times the profile diameter and in a single pass.
Application area: steel windows and steel profiles
Steel allows slimmer sightlines at the same load-bearing capacity: slender frames, more glass surface and a look that has proven itself in building renovation, on listed buildings and in industrial and loft construction.
Steel can be processed on PBT profile bending machines just as precisely as aluminium and copper. Small steel profiles in confined spaces are bent by the ARKUS12®, which – with the optional reduced roller spacing – bends kink-free from R35 mm and transitions into larger radii. Where more force is required, PBT recommends the PBT35 Servo Wide®; for the largest cross-sections and beam constructions made of structural steel, the HELIX Servo®. Thin-walled hollow profiles are supported from the inside by the mandrel bending attachment so the cross-section keeps its shape. Changes in material properties can be handled without difficulty in most cases, and with the automatic radius measuring system, target values are achieved across many radii without scrap and without time-consuming test runs.
Application area: facade construction
With bent building envelopes, the mullions and transoms of a facade cladding are no longer merely cut to size but formed. This shifts the critical factor from individual accuracy to repeat accuracy: a facade consists of many identical elements, and if the twentieth deviates from the first, this is not noticed in production but on the construction site.
The X-axis of all control variants is regulated and monitored to 1/100 mm. With the Tablet350 and PC400, bending programs of unlimited number and length can be stored and checked graphically, keeping a series reproducible regardless of when it is manufactured. For the largest profile cross-sections, such as beam constructions in
