Cold working
Hot working
Cold working:
Recovery
Recrystallization
Grain growth
Recovery: In this region, the mechanical
properties remain the same as cold worked
metal. However due to heating, some of the
imperfections such as vacancies and
dislocations get eliminated which lead to
pronounced changes in the internal
stresses, electric resistance and corrosion
resistance of the material.
Recrystallization: In this region, old distorted
grains get replaced by new equiaxed stress
free, strain free grains by a process of
nucleation and growth. Due to this the micro
structure at the end of recrystallization
process is similar to original structure prior
to cold working. Due to change in the
structure, all the mechanical properties are
changed and almost become equal to the
original properties. Also internal stresses
totally get eliminated.
The temperature at which recrystallization is
carried out is known as the recrystallization
temperature. This temperature is a function
of the following factors
Melting point of the metal.
Degree of cold work.
Grain size.
Purity of metal.
Heating rate.
Generally recrystallization temperatures of
most of the metals lie in-between 0.4 to
0.6 of melting point in degree Kelvin. The
grain size obtained at the end of the
recrystallization depends on the
temperature of heating, time of heating,
heating rate, degree of cold work and type
and level of impurities.
Grain growth: If a completely
recrystallized material is heated to a
higher temperature or kept for a long tome
at the annealing temperature, it will show
pronounced grain growth. This type of
grain growth is not desirable because it
decreases useful properties. However this
will be useful in the growth of single
crystals. The driving force for this is the
reduction in the free energy of the system
which is mainly due to the reduction in
grain boundary area.
Large grains formed in the Ti-V alloy
formed after holding for long time at
recrystallization temperature
Changes in properties and microstructures in
various stages of annealing
The following micro graphs illustrate the
progress of recrystallization and grain
growth of cold-worked brass after
annealing at a constant temperature of
10750F at 40x.
Cold worked
Start of recrystallization
After 8 minutes of recrystallization
After 20 minutes of recrystallization
After of 40 minutes of recrystallization
After recrystallization for 50 minutes
After recrystallization for 1 hour
Hot working: It is defined as deformations
under conditions of temperature and strain
rate such that recovery processes take
place simultaneously with the deformation
process so that large strains can be
achieved with essentially no strain
hardening. Hot working processes such as
rolling, extrusion, or forging typically are
used in the first step of converting a cast
ingot into a wrought product. Hot working
is usually carried out at temperatures above
0.6 Tm and at high strain rates in the range
0.5 to 500 s-1.
Effect of grain size on the surface appearance
of brass sheet
Advantages of hot working: The various
advantages of hot working are
Aluminum 0-2
Steel 5-7
Tolerances:
Dimension tolerances are usually positive
and are approximately 0.3 % of the
dimension, rounded off to the next higher
0.5 mm (0.020 in)
Die wear tolerances are lateral tolerances
(parallel to the parting plane) and are
roughly +0.2 % for Copper alloys to +0.5
% for Aluminum and Steel.
Die closure tolerances are in the
direction of opening and closing, and range
from 1 mm (0.040 inch) for small forgings,
die projection area < 150 cm2 (23 in2), to
6.25 mm (0.25 inch) for large forgings, die
projection area > 6500 cm2 (100 in2).
Die match tolerances are to allow for
shift in the upper die with respect to the
lower die. This is weight based and is
shown in the following table.
Flash tolerance:
It is the amount of acceptable flash after
the trimming operation. This is weight
based and is shown in the following table.
Finished Forging Weight
Trimmed kg (lb)
> 500
< 10 < 50
Material (>
(< 22) (< 110)
1100)
Flash Tolerance
mm (in)
Aluminum,
0.8 3.25 10
Copper Alloys,
(0.032) (0.125) (0.4)
Steel
Stainless Steel, 1.6 5 12.5
Titanium (0.064) (0.2) (0.5)
A proper lubricant is necessary for making
good forgings. The lubricant is useful in
preventing sticking of the workpiece to the
die, and also acts as a thermal insulator to
help reduce die wear.
Press Forgings:
Press forging use a slow squeezing action of
a press, to transfer a great amount of
compressive force to the workpiece. Unlike
an open-die forging where multiple blows
transfer the compressive energy to the
outside of the product, press forging
transfers the force uniformly to the bulk of
the material. This results in uniform material
properties and is necessary for large weight
forgings. Parts made with this process can
be quite large as much as 125 kg (260 lb)
and 3m (10 feet) long.
Different forging operations include
Upsetting
Roll forging
Edging
Fullering
Drawing
Swaging
Piercing
Punching
Upset Forgings:
Upset forging increases cross-section by
compressing the length, this is used in
making heads on bolts and fasteners, valves
and other similar parts.
Roll Forgings:
In roll forging, a bar stock, round or flat is
placed between die rollers which reduces
the cross-section and increases the length
to form parts such as axles, leaf springs
etc. This is essentially a form of draw
forging.
Edging:
This is used to shape the ends of the bars
and to gather the metal. As can be seen
the figure the metal is confined by the die
from flowing in the horizontal direction but
it is free to flow laterally to fill the die.
Fullering:
It is used to reduce the cross sectional
area of a portion of the stock. The metal
flow is outward and away from the
centering of the Fullering die. An example
of the use of this type of operation would
be in the forging of a connecting rod for
an internal combustion engine.
Drawing out:
The reduction in cross section of the work
with concurrent increase in length is
called drawing down or drawing out. This
process resembles to some extent to
rolling process which is going to be
discussed later.
Swaging:
Swaging - a tube or rod is forced inside a
die and the diameter is reduced as the
cylindrical object is fed. The die hammers
the diameter and causes the metal to
flow inward causing the outer diameter of
the tube or the rod to take the shape of
the die.
Piercing :
In this process a tube or rod is forced into
the material and load is applied from the top
so as to make a cavity in the material which
will be the shape of the rod or tube pierced.
Punching
Forging equipment: These are classified
depending on the principle of operation as
Forging hammers
Forging presses
Forging hammers: This the most commonly
used forging equipment. Here the force is
supplied by a falling ram or weight. These
are energy restricted machines since the
deformation results from dissipating the
kinetic energy of the ram.
The two basic types of hammer are
Board hammer
Power hammer
Board hammer: Here the upper die and
ram are raised by friction rolls gripping
the board. When the board is released,
the ram falls under the influence of the
gravity to produce the blow energy. The
board is raised once again for one more
blow. The energy supplied by the blow is
equal to the potential energy due to the
weight of the ram and the height of the
fall.
Board hammer
Power hammer: Greater forging capacity is
achieved with the power hammer in which
the ram is accelerated on the down stroke
by steam or air pressure in addition to the
gravity. These are preferred over board
hammer for closed-die forging as the
energy of the blow can be controlled here.
Power hammer
Forging presses: Hammers do not provide
the forging accuracy hence a new class of
forging equipment are used known as
forging press. These are of two types
Bloom
Billet
Slab
Plate
Sheet
plate
strip
The initial breakdown of the ingot into blooms
and billets is generally done by hot rolling. This
is followed by further hot rolling into plate,
sheet, rod, bar, pipe, rails or structural shapes.
The cold rolling of the metal has reached a
position of major importance in industry. Cold
rolling produces sheet, strip and file with good
surface finish and increased mechanical
strength and at the same time maintaining
close control of the dimensional tolerances.
Bloom: A bloom is the product of the first
break down of the ingot. Generally the width of
the bloom equals its thickness, and cross
sectional area is greater than 36 in2.