A forging machine presses metal into a specific shape using cold, warm, or hot temperatures. Forged parts are stronger than cast or machined parts due to the grain of the material flowing in the same direction. Cold forging is used on smaller parts, while hot forging involves stamping red-hot metal into a basic shape.
A forging machine is also called a press or punch press; the machine presses down on a blank piece of metal and creates a specific shape. Operated in one of three common temperatures – cold, warm and hot – the designation is calibrated to the temperature of the metal being shaped. Using enough pressure to stamp a basic shape from a solid piece of metal in a single stroke, the forge often works by a flywheel mechanism that feeds a stamping die down and into the second component of the total die, pressing continuously due to inertia of the rotating flywheel. It is a common design feature of a forging machine to drop or press the die or stamp down onto the work piece, hence the name drop forge.
Forged steel and aluminum parts maintain greater strength than a cast or machined part due to the grain of the forged material flowing in the same direction throughout the part. This increased retention of force makes machine forging the preferred method for creating high-strength, durable products such as hand tools, machine parts, and engine pistons. Although the forging machine gives the basic shape to a part by applying strong pressure in a single stroke and inserting the metal blank between the upper and lower press dies, it often requires many more steps to produce a finished product.
The cold forging process is used on smaller, less critical parts as the amount of hardening of the metal directly from the forging machine is less controllable. When a part is cold forged, the heat created by pressing the metal into a particular shape also hardens the part. Known as work hardening, the level of hardness is not fully controllable or uniform throughout the entire cycle of parts. A side effect of cold forming is that the work hardening of the part typically makes further steps more difficult due to the level of hardness present in the metal.
Hot forging involves the forging machine stamping a red-hot piece of metal into a basic design or shape. The forging machine typically uses a light oil film on the pressing dies to prevent sticking of the part to the die and to provide a heat shield to the die. The worker operating the hot stamping machine uses long steel tongs to place the hot steel piece into the molds of the machine. On larger parts, the hot steel is often fed into the forge by a strip of steel.
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