Metal Forming

Metal Forming: Hot and cold forming, forming processes,

forging machines, forging design considerations, forging
defects; High energy rate forming processes.

Metal Forming
Manufacturing companies producing metals in the form of
ingots which are obtained by casting liquid metal into a
square cross section such as slabs, billets or blooms.
These shapes are further processed through hot rolling,
forging or extrusion, to produce materials in standard form
such as plates, sheets, rods, tubes and structural sections.

Metal Forming
Sequence of operations for obtaining different shapes

Metal Forming
Sequence of operations for obtaining different shapes

Metal Forming
Forming can be defined as a process in which the desired
size and shape are obtained through the plastic deformation
of a material.
The stresses induced during the process are greater than the
yield strength, but less than the fracture strength of the
material.
The type of loading may be tensile, compressive, bending
or shearing or combination of these.
This is a very economical process as the desired shape, size
and finish can be obtained without any significant loss of
material.

Metal Forming
Forming processes grouped under two broad categories:
Cold forming and hot forming
If the working temperature is higher than the
recrystallization temperature of the material, then the
process is called hot forming. Otherwise the process is
termed as cold forming.
The flow stress behavior of a material is entirely different
for above and below its recrystalization temperature.
During hot working , a large amount of plastic deformation
can be imparted without significant of strain hardening
A large amount of strain hardening renders the material
brittle.

Metal Forming
During hot working, a proper control of the grain size is
possible since active grain growth takes place in the range
of the working temperature.
As a result, there is no strain hardening, and therefore there
is no need of expensive and time consuming intermediate
annealing.
Strain hardening is advisable during some operations such
as in drawing to achieve an improved strength where hot
working is less advantageous.

Metal Forming
Strain hardening may be essential for successful completion
of some processes such as in deep drawing , strain
hardening prevents the rupture of the material around the
bottom circumference where stress is maximum.
Large products and high strength materials can be worked
upon under hot conditions since the elevated temperature
lowers down the strength work and load. The ductility
increases with temperature.
Therefore, brittle materials can also be worked upon by the
hot working operation.

Metal Forming
When very accurate dimensional control is required, hot
working is not advised because of shrinkage and loss of
surface metal due to scaling. Surface finish is poor due to
oxide formation and scaling.
The major advantages of cold working are that it is
economical, quicker and easier to handle because here no
extra arrangements for heating.
The mechanical properties normally
the process due to strain hardening.
flow directions adds to the strength
product.
The limitations of cold working is

get improved during

The control of grain
characteristics of the
difficulty with high

Metal Forming
The typical forming processes are
Rolling
Forging
Drawing
Deep drawing
Tube and wire drawing
Bending and
Extrusion
Although Punching and Blanking operations are not metal
forming processes however these will be considered due to
similarity with deep drawing process.

Rolling
Rolling is the most extensively used metal forming process
and its share is roughly 90%.
The job is drawn by means of friction through a regulated
opening between two power driven rolls.
The compressive forces applied by the rolls reduce the
thickness of the material or changes its cross sectional area.
The shape and size of the product are decided by the gap
between the rolls and contours.
This is very useful process for production of sheet metal and various
common sections such as rail, channel, angle and round.

Rolling

Rolling
Change in grains structure in rolling

Rolling
In rolling the crystals get elongated in the rolling direction.
In cold rolling crystal more or less retain the elongated
shape but in hot rolling they start reforming after
coming out from the deformation zone
The peripheral velocity of rolls at entry exceeds that of the
strip, which is dragged in if the interface friction is high
enough.
In the deformation zone the thickness of the strip gets
reduced and it elongates. This increases the linear speed of
the at the exit.

Rolling
Thus there exist a neutral point where roll speed and strip
speeds are equal. At this point the direction of the friction
reverses.
When the angle of contact exceeds the friction angle
the rolls cannot draw fresh strip
Roll torque, power etc. increase with increase in roll work
contact length or roll radius

Pressure variation during rolling

Typical pressure variation along the contact
length in flat rolling. The peak pressure is
located at the neutral point. The area
beneath the curve, represents roll force.
Friction in rolling: It depends on lubrication,
work material and also on the temperature. In
cold rolling the value of coefficient of friction is
around 0.1 and in warm working it is around 0.2.
In hot rolling it is around 0.4. In hot rolling
sticking friction condition is also seen and then
friction coefficient is observed up to 0.7. In
sticking the hot wok surface adheres to roll and
thus the central part of the strip undergoes with a
severe deformation.

Roll passes to get a 10 mm rod

from 100 x 100 mm billet

Roll configurations in rolling mills

Two-high and three-high mills are generally used for initial
and intermediate passes during hot rolling, while four-high
and cluster mills are used for final passes.
Last two arrangements are preferred for cold rolling
because roll in these configurations are supported by backup rolls which minimize the deflections and produce better
tolerances.

Various Roll Configurations (a) Twohigh (b) Three-high (c) Four-high (d)
Cluster mill (e) Tandem mill