Cold Forming of Metals - Cost and Technical Advantages
Cold heading and cold forming operations run at high speeds and material efficiencies. This makes cold forming a very attractive alternative to screw or conventional machining.
Production speeds are 50-400 parts/minute, compared to 1-2 parts/minute in screw machining. Material loss is usually 0-3%, while in machining, chip or grinding loss can be as much as 70% or more.
Because of these super high production rates and material usage, cold formed part prices are often 40-60% of machined part prices. And if the material is very expensive, such as precious metals like gold, platinum, silver, and tantalum, cold forming results in even more cost advantages.
Tooling cost is very reasonable, usually only a few hundred dollars. The most expensive tool sets, for multi-cavity headers, are typically only a few thousand dollars.
For metals that are very difficult to machine due to their poor chip-breaking tendencies, cold forming is often the best alternative. Examples include nickel, gold, pure copper, tantalum, palladium, and others.
Many metals benefit from the cold or warm work imparted during cold forming. This results in strain hardening of the material, improving the yield and tensile strength.
Cold formed metal has natural radii on most corners and undercuts. This is a natural result of the material flow as it fills the die under the very high pressures used in cold forming. The resulting freedom from burrs and sharp edges, along with the increased tensile strength, can result in improved toughness and fatigue performance
More information about materials, geometries, and tolerances can be found on our Cold Forming Tolerances and Technical Data page.
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