If you have been in construction or manufacturing, you know that forging is a practice that has been around for ages. Since most people do not know about it, learning about closed die hot forging will help you appreciate the process better, you also get to know if this is something you want your products to go through or if you would rather look for a different forging process. Here are the main steps followed during forging.
1. Heating
The first step in the forging process is the heating process. In this step, the metals that are meant to be shaped are put into the furnace and heated until they become liquid. Based on the products being made, different metals will be heated up. There are also situations where the metals are mixed together to come up with better quality metals.
2. Preforming
Once the metal has been heated and is now liquid, it is put in a die and pressed together. By doing so, the metal can be shaped into different things. The die is made based on the final product being made. A single company can have different dies formed to come up with different finished pieces. The excess liquid is cleared once the die is closed, so the final piece cools off properly.
3. Finished forging
As the metal cools it is forced into an impression. While the performing made it look similar to the final process, the forging stage ensures everything looks even more like the final process. Since this metal can be manipulated, it might only need a couple of presses to get it into shape. The metal being used is what will determine how long this procedure will be. The pressures applied will also be different based on whatever metal and product are being worked on. There are times when the procedure might take slightly longer.
4. Cooling
With the steps above, the metal is in an almost molten state. It will need to be cooled down before anyone can use it properly. The next step here would be to cool it. The metals go through a fast cooling process that is also known as “flash” cooling.
Once that is done, the metal is now ready to be shipped to whoever will be using it. Flash cooling allows the metal to maintain the shape it has been forged into. Cooling it slower might lead to the shape being defamed, and that is not something most people want with their finished pieces.
5. Finishing
Before the pieces are put on the market, there has to be a finishing process. Here the pieces are thoroughly inspected to see if any of them look out of place. There is also a lot of trimming done to ensure that there are no excessive metals sticking out of the final pieces. It ensures that you get your pieces looking similar and that none of them will have any issues when it comes to usability.
Last thoughts
Metal forging is a process that has ensured we have so many metallic parts that are used in the industries. By learning more about it, you get to appreciate the process and the products as well.
