Hardwire has he unique attribute that it can be bent or “broken” on a sheet metal break. By bending the material you can get 90 degree right angle bends that will carry the full strength of the Hardwire fabric around a very precise corner. Unlike traditional heavy weight composite fabrics, Hardwire will not wrinkle, which for glass, carbon, and Kevlar greatly diminishes the strength. For lay ups these tight corners make for precision corners which always result in higher quality laminates and parts. In the area of steel, wood and concrete repair, Hardwire corners are great for getting around the tight corners found in every day structures. Lets face it, life is square, and Hardwire is the way to reinforce it.

Each Hardwire material performs slightly different in a sheet metal break. In general Hardwire needs to be “over broken” to about 120 degrees to have the material at 90 degrees after spring-back. Tightly clamped, close tolerance hand breaks work the best, but the correct die set in a stamping style break work well also. Die sets should be minimum depth, so the material is impacted at the last second during the machine stroke. Some experiments may be necessary to get perfect angles, but once you have it, the material will perform very consistently. When breaking Hardwire, 12X based products will have the maximum spring back, followed by 3X2 based products. 3XS based products are the easiest to break and will spring back the least.

Hardwire can also be bent using heat. Quick duration heat below 750 degree F will not change the microstructure of the wire and the material will bend more easily. High temperatures (red hot) will allow the Hardwire material to bend like a “wet noodle”, but is not recommended due to the annealing effect heat will have on the precise grain structure of the high carbon steel within the wire itself.