How do I level my materials? An overview

Material characteristics

The question we hear a lot is: “Can this material be leveled?” It is possible to level all metals with an ultimate elongation of at least five percent and a distinct yield strength. The usual rule of thumb we go by is if you can bend something, it can be leveled. Meaning that if it’s malleable enough to be bent without breaking, it can be leveled. Some items which can't be leveled with our levelers includes; tubes, pipes, anything that is 3 dimensional or already formed. Although the ultimate answer still comes down to varying factors of the materials you are trying to level. These factors include:

• Material type
• Yield strength
• Thickness
• Size
• Cutouts

Taking these factors into account, it is important to analyze your material before attempting to level. One thing that is very important to keep in mind, that once the material reaches a certain hardness, it tends to break during the leveling process. This is due to the malleability of the material not being high enough to undergo the alternating bending process of a leveler. Therefore we recommend processing heat treated materials when they are not fully cooled down (fully hardened). The other way that could help with leveling heat treated materials, is to level them prior to the actual heat treating process. Allowing for less of a flatness deflection during the heat treating process itself.

After you had examined your materials based on the factors listed above, it’s time to talk about the actual leveling process itself. The main indicator to determine which leveler is right for you, depends on the material thickness. General rule for configuring a leveler is that the gap between the last two rollers (outlet setting) is right at material thickness. Whereas the gap between the first and second rollers (inlet roller) is roughly half of the material thickness. This strong initial bend allows for not only achieving flatness but to reduce the stresses inside the materials as well. These hidden stresses can cause difficulties during downstream processing such as not remaining flat during welding. Causing poor weld quality which can lead to rejects and costly rework down the line.

Once you have identified the ideal leveler on our website, there are a few key takeaways when it comes to ensuring the lever and the material is setup correctly:

• Ensure the material is free of any slag, burr or raised points
• Material needs to be leveled bow up for best results
• If flatness defects remain after the first pass, rotate the part by 90 degrees and run it again or readjust the settings

Following all the rules above and utilizing one of our levelers, unmatched flatness and stress relieve can be achieved in just a single pass in most cases.