Cold forging is a displacement process that forms the existing material into the desired shape whereas conventional machining uses a removal process to take away material in order to create the desired shape.
A primary reason that many companies move a process from machining to cold forging is the need for achieving higher throughput from the production line. In many cases, machining involves multiple pass operations to remove material and to finish the part (e.g. vertical, horizontal, bulk removal, detail touch-up, etc.). In contrast, cold forging is typically a single-pass forming process that deforms the existing material into the desired shape. This can potentially deliver a 100 to 200 times productivity improvement for high-volume production.
The second key advantage of cold forging is the elimination of wasted material, which is an inherent characteristic of all machining processes. Instead of removing a significant amount of the raw material, a cold forging process makes use of it all. This can result in significant material savings and cost reduction.
Other key advantages include enhanced product strength, design flexibility, better surface finishing and higher hardness of compressed materials.
To learn more about these advantages, read the new Tech Bulletin on Cold Forging vs. Machining.
