Cold Forging

What Is The Cold Forging Process and Cold Forging Parts?

What is Cold Forging?

The most obvious difference between hot forge and cold forge is, while hot forge induces extensive heat onto the billet, cold forge simply keeps the workpiece at room temperature with no additional heating required. Cold forged products reach greater hardness yet lower malleability, however, this method is more cost- effective and more eco-friendly.

Why Cold Forging?

Cold forging is often preferred by manufacturers since it requires little to no finishing work. Considering that all workpieces are annealed before forging, it wouldn’t be necessary to apply an additional heating process before machining. The weight of the final product is equivalent to the original weight of the billet, no additional weight loss during cold forging. Cold forging also provides great dimensional precision, which is very suitable for small components. The shortened manufacturing time and longer lifespan of the die along with the advantages listed above, prompted many manufacturers to adopt cold forging into their production.

Due to not heating up the workpiece, the billets being worked during cold forging will be way harder and rather low in malleability, the stretch and shaping of the billet will be limited, therefore, customized designs can’t be produced by cold forging.

Due to not heating up the workpiece, the billets being worked during cold forging will be way harder and rather low in malleability, the stretch and shaping of the billet will be limited, therefore, customized designs can’t be produced by cold forging.

According to the statements listed above, only a few limited options of raw metal can be used to cold forging, for example: metals with a high carbon content won’t be appropriate for cold forging by reason of the low ductility nature of said metal, and might chip off or even break the material during forging.

How to Cold Forge?

The process of cold forging is performed under room temperature, hence the name, cold forging. The workpiece is simply pressed between an upper and lower die until it has formed the predetermined shape. To complete a cold forged product, it has to go over numerous procedures in order to finish, rolling, drawing, pressing, spinning, heading, and extruding. Cold forging extrusion is a very common way of manufacturing, this technique is widely used on automotive components.

Potential Cost Reductions in Hot Forging

To reduce cost in manufacturing cold forging products, the most direct way is raw materials, purchase them from upstream suppliers, eliminate the middle man and have metal workpieces sent right to the factories.

Also, obtaining professional know- how on all involved materials, tools, methods, and processes, distribute the fitting billet on the appropriate machine to ensure maximum efficiency on production.

A high- quality and efficient lubrication system is yet another way to significantly reduce cost. Equal and adequate lubrication is key during cold forging, especially products that need multiple station presses. By implementing this system, failures or flawed products can be greatly reduced thanks to the coating of lube, which decreases the chance of having to re-forging a batch of items, and ultimately, minimizing unnecessary cost.