Metal Forging | Laminin Corp

Forging

Metal forging is the process of warming and compressing metals to shape them into a finished product. Manufacturing these products is done in a variety of ways, including but not limited to:

Open Die Forging: manufacturers strike a warmed piece of metal with a hammer or press against an anvil to form blocks, cylinders, plates, and more. This process improves the strength and pressure resistance of the finished metal product.

Closed Die Forging: also called impression die forging, is similar to open die forging, however, the metal is fit to a die cavity so the press or hammer can impress the metal into the correct form.

Hammer Forging: also known as drop forging, the Hammer Operator consistently drops a hammer on the heated metal to shape it into the right product. This metal forging process includes open die forging and closed die forging.

Press Forging: in this process, the Press Operator applies pressure to the hot or cold metal slowly. This greatly decreases the risk of imperfections or deformities within the metal product which may occur during other typical hammering projects. This metal forging process includes open die forging and closed die forging.

Upset Forging: manufacturers are able to greatly increase the thickness of a piece of metal by using this metal forging process. Compression upsets the metal so the metal thickens without any abnormalities.

Ring Rolling: this metal forging process uses cylinder templates to roll the metal piece into shape. Roll forging can create various sizes of springs and axels. The production of forged rings is often performed on rolling mills.

Radial Forging: this is a unique process for the precision forging of round and tubular components, with or without internal profiles, and for reducing the diameter of ingots and bars. Basically, the hammers in these radial forging machines are given rapid periodic motion so the dies sweep around the part to be formed.

Swaging: this is a similar process to radial forging. Swaging differs in that the dies are mounted in a headstock which holds the dies and a set of planetary rollers.

Isothermal Forging: manufacturers heat both the metal and the forging tools to the same heat for impression. This process is done for special metals, which require high heating temperatures to be shaped, and sometimes will take place within a vacuum.

Cold Forging: this process gets its name from the simple fact the metal does not have to be heated to be shaped. Manufacturers lubricate the room temperature metal during formation so there are no discrepancies in the final product.

Approximately 45,000 people from coast to coast are employed by the forging industry in the United States and Canada. Because the modern forging process is capital intensive (requiring an abundance of heavy equipment for manufacture and the people to run and maintain it), most forging plants are small businesses which generally employ between 50 to 500 employees each, with a few larger facilities employing over 1000 people.

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