METALWORKING
Metals are important in industry because they can be easily deformed into useful shapes. A lot of metal working processes have been developed for certain applications. They can be divided into five broad groups:
- rolling,
- extrusion,
- drawing,
- forging,
- sheet-metal forming.
During the first four processes metal is subjected to large amounts of strain (deformation). But if deformation goesiTE a high temperature, the metal will recrysjtallize — that is, new strain-free grains will grow instead of deformed grains. For this reason metals are usually rolled, extruded, drawn, or forged above their recrystallization temperature. This is called hot working. Under these conditions there is no limit to the compressive plastic strain to which the metal can be subjected.
Other processes are performed below the recrystalli-zation temperature. These are called cold working. Cold working hardens metal and makes the part stronger However, there is a limit to the strain before a cold part cracks.
Rolling
Rolling is the most common metalworking process. More than 90 percent of the aluminum, steel and copper produced are rolled at least once in the course of production. The most common rolled product is sheet Rolling can be done either hot or cold. If the rolling is finished cold, the surface will be smoother and the product stronger.
Extrusion
Extrusion is pushing the billet to flow through the orifice of a die. Products may have either a simple or a complex cross section. Aluminium window frames are the examples of complex extrusions.
Tubes or other hollow parts can also be extruded. The initial piece is a thick-walled tube, and the extruded part is shaped between a die on the outside of the tube and a mandrel held on the inside.
In back-extrusion (штамповка выдавливанием) the workpiece is placed in the bottom of a hole and a loosely fitting ram is pushed against it. The ram forces the metal to flow back around it, with the gap between the ram and the die determining the wall thickness. The example of this process is the manufacturing of aluminum beer cans.
TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESSES
Drawing consists of pulling metal through a die. An example of drawing is wire drawing. The diameter reduction that can be achieved in one die is limited, but several dies in series can be used to get the desired reduction.
Sheet metal forming (штамповка листового металла) is widely used when parts of certain shape and size are needed. It includes forging, bending and shearing. One characteristic of sheet metal forming is that the thickness of the sheet changes little in processing. The metal is stretched just beyond its yield point (2 to 4 percent strain) in order to retain the new shape. Bending can be done by pressing between two dies. Shearing is a rutting operation similar to that used for cloth.
Each of these processes may be used alone, but often all three are used on one part. For example, to make the roof of an automobile from a flat sheet, the edges are gripped and the piece pulled in tension over a lower die. Next an upper die is pressed over the top, finishing the forming operation (штамповкy), and finally the edges are sheared off to give the final dimensions.
Forging is the shaping of a piece of metal by pushing with open or closed dies. It is usually done hot in order to reduce the required force and increase the metal’s plasticity.
Open-die forging is usually done by hammering a part between two flat faces. It is used to make parts that are too big to be formed in a closed die or in cases where only a few parts are to be made. The earliest forging machines lifted a large hammer that was then dropped on the workpiece, but now air or steam hammers are used, since they allow greater control over the force and the rate of forming. The part is shaped by moving or tui between blows.
Closed-die forging is the shaping of hot metal within walls of two dies that come together to enclose workpiece on all sides. The process starts with a bar cut to the length needed to fill the die. Since complex shapes and large strains are involved, dies may be used to go from the initial bar to the shape. With closed dies, parts can be made to tolerances so that little finish machining is required.
Two closed-die forging operations are given s names. They are upsetting and coining. Coining its name from the final stage of forming metal where the desired imprint is formed on a metal disk is pressed in a closed die. Coining involves small s and is done cold. Upsetting involves a flow of the metal back upon itself. An example of this process is the pi of a short length of a rod through a hole, clamping rod, and then hitting the exposed length with a die form the head of a nail or bolt.
