NOPAL® 
How does this new material work?

 
 
 

Molded part made of NOPAL
0.4 mm Al
Patented process
Molded part made of smooth sheet metal 0,5 mm Al

 
 
Product description:
NOPAL® has two very advantageous properties:
> Great stiffness
> Outstanding reshapeability.
The great stiffness of nopalised sheet metals allows reduction of sheet thickness and therefore weight.
Due to the special structure of this material stylish parts can be produced with simple reshaping tools. Expensive deep-drawing dies are not required.

The NOPAL® embossing in the sheet metal allows large-scale stretching and compression and makes harmonic surfaces possible, despite strong deformation.
Because of the low cost of tools and the small number of reshaping procedures required, this process is advantageous for both small and large-scale series.

Application:
Heat shielding screens, reinforcements in car body construction, holders, adapters, supporting parts, base metal sheets, coverings, etc.

Definition:
NOPAL® consists of sheet aluminium that is corrugated crosswise by machines - or put another way - is napped.
NOPAL® = geNOPptes ALuminium [i.e., napped aluminium]
( NOSTAL® = geNOppter STAhL). [i.e., napped aluminium]
"0,5/3mm" stands for: sheet thickness and overall profile thickness. 

The napped structure provides this material with the following advantageous properties:

Stiff
With NOPAL® (and NOSTAL®) additional stiffness results from the shape of the sheet profile. This shape consists of crosswise corrugation and so constitutes a string of stable domes.In the case of aluminium, NOPAL® is stiffened further through targeted cold-work hardening, achieved during nopalising.

Homogeneous or directional?
There is oriented and homogeneous NOPAL®.
With oriented (directional) NOPAL® the corrugation is embossed more strongly in one direction than the other (i.e., crosswise direction). 
Therefore, directional NOPAL® is particularly stiff in one direction (like corrugated iron) and it can be better adapted to strong shaping.

Torsion resistant
Due to the napped structure NOPAL® is very torsion resistant.This effect is particularly pronounced because of the staggered and homogeneous arrangement of the naps and their great height (e.g., 7 mm). 
Compressible
NOPAL®'s corrugation allows compression during the reshaping process. Through this compression unsightly material deformations and doubling are greatly reduced

Stretchable
The aluminium is already somewhat prestretched because of the naps, which, in theory, reduces its stretchability. In reality, NOPAL® shows increased stretching behaviour.
 
This can be easily understood:
The gap in the tool corresponds to the overall thickness of NOPAL®. When the NOPAL® sheet bar is stretched in the tool its corrugation is stretched. It becomes flatter and is therefore released from the gap in the tool. Another section of corrugated material slips in, which in turn stretches the following corrugated section. The sheet bar stretches. 
 
The corrugation can also be compressed. This prevents doubling of the material.
This material breathes during reshaping. 
The degree of reshaping is increased further when stretching and compressing are arranged side by side. This could also be referred to as an "accordion effect". The effect can be controlled with flexible fold holders in the tool.The tools become simpler because a drawing cushion is not required. A drawing brim is also not necessary.
 

Sound-absorbing
Through the NOPAL® structure the sound in solids has a lower frequency and is less loud.
In addition, airborne sound can be absorbed with perforated NOPAL®. This is another variant of our INSULATION ABSORBER.
Please refer to the appropriate product information

Lightweight and economical
The increased stiffness of NOPAL® results from the material's shape. As a consequence sheet thickness itself can be reduced. This saves money.
More money can be saved through low-cost tools and the fact that a drawing brim is not required.