Metals forging: hot or cold forging?

The forging by means of presses of metals commonly used for the industrial production, such as aluminum and brass, can happen in two ways.

• The first one is the cold coining, carried out, for example, on a piece that already has its own shape and that is forged through the press in such a way to calibrate it and to compact it. The cold coining is suitable, above all, for small size parts and for great production batches, such as screws. The most suitable machines for this type of process are our screw presses.
• The metals hot forging is different from the cold one because it allows to obtain high quality pieces by means of an important deformation of the starting material. With the deformation of brass, copper, aluminum by means of hot forging presses it is possible, indeed, to produce particular shapes, having very complicated structures as well. In order to achieve this forging, Mecolpress proposes, beyond the already mentioned screw presses, also the mechanical and hydraulic presses according to the different production necessities expressed by the customer.

Mechanical and hydraulic presses for the hot forging

The mechanical press can hot forge even complicated pieces. At the end of the process, the forged parts can often have some remaining flash that can be eliminated by means of a trimming machine, machinery that is part of the products range that we offer. The eccentric mechanical press with continuous cycle is recommended for the customers who have high production necessities, while the hydraulic press is more advisable for parts having very complicated shapes and that would require, otherwise, the usage of a lot of material. This type of press permits, indeed, a saving of the input material, so offering to the forger a good margin on the product cost. Moreover, by forging the parts by means of hydraulic hot forging presses, at the end of the productive cycle the parts range that can be produced without flash is much wider, thanks to a progressive and programmable application of the forces. Another characteristic of this type of presses is the flexibility, given by the wide number of available functions.

Hot forging line

For the metals forging a furnace that can be electric (induction) or gas furnace and a press are needed. This is the base productive line for the aluminum, brass, titanium and steel processing; line that can be upstream completed with a sawing machine that cuts the metal bar in billets and with a graphitizing machine, where the billets are treated with the graphite before these are inserted in the furnace, so that these absorb better the heat and that are kept lubricated. The graphitizing, that offers remarkable advantages from a productive point of view, such as a minor gas consumption in the furnace and a superior durability of the dies, is just fitting for some specific production typologies. It is not recommended, for example, for the production of parts that once forged, must be chrome plated or exposed to further particular treatments. Our sales department is at the disposal of our customers for suggesting the best forging line composition according to the product and to application field.

Hot forged metals

The customer’s choice for a specific press for his own productive cycle is based on the material typology used by the forger and on the shapes to achieve.

For the brass forging the hydraulic press is more fitting than the screw press, that is better for the forging of titanium and steel. The eccentric mechanical presses are used for all the metals, even for the copper hot forging. Our sales department is at disposal of our customers for offering the best technical solution for every specific productive situation.

For further information about hot forging machineries, please write us at sales@mecolpress.com