CHAPTER 15

COLD WORKING

15.COLD WORKING Cold working is a plastic deformation (rolling, extrusion and drawing) of metals below their recrystallisation temperature. This deformation causes the metal to be shaped. Differences between hot and cold working: ( See notes of chapter 14, pg 1 & 2) Advantages of cold working: 1. Produces smooth and bright surfaces of parts that have been previously hot worked. 2. No oxidation 3. Strength and hardness are increased. 4. Can be used for hardening metals that do not respond to heat treatment 5. Close tolerance can be obtained.

Disadvantages: 1. More energy is required. 2. Heavy equipment is needed. 3. Overworking causes brittleness. Effect produced by cold working: Stresses remain in the metal unless they are removed by heat treatment Grains are distorted or fragmented No recovery of the grains or metal properties because cold working is performed below recrystallisation temperature Productive process Close tolerances of the product Good surface finish

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Process of Cold Working;1. Tube finishing (Tube drawing or Tube reducing) Principle: An end of a tube that has been first hot rolled is withdrawn

The die has a diameter smaller than the outside diameter of the tube. The internal diameter of the produced (reduced) tube is controlled by a mandrel. This operation is performed on a machine called draw bench. Disadv: So severe operation (requires high energy) 2. Wire Drawing Principle: This process is similar to tube drawing except that the mandrel (inside the tube) is eliminated because a wire (solid part) is drawn in this case. Any wire is produced by pulling hot rolled wire rod through several dies to decrease its size and increase its strength. An end of the hot rolled wire is pointed so that it can enter the die hole and then it is grasped. Wire drawing is accomplished by pulling this end. Calculation: Wire drawing reduction and elongation. % Reduction = Ao Af x 100 Ao

% Elongation = Lf Lo x 100 Lo Remember: Qo = Qf Ao Vo = Af Vf

Ao, Af, Lo,Lf original and final areas and lengths Qo, Qf, Vo, Vf orginal and final quantities and velocities. 3. Metal spinning (Conventional Spinning) Metal spinning is a cold working operation of shaping thin metal by pressing it against a form (mandrel) while it (this form) is rotating. A rigid conventional hand-spinning tool deforms and shapes the metal over the mandrel. This process is accomplished on lathe machines and limited to symmetrical parts. Note: The wall thickness of the blank remains the same after spinning.

Advantages and disadvantages of metal spinning ( comparison with press working): 1. Tool cost is lower (adv) 2. Labor cost are higher than for press work (disadv) 3. Production rate is less (disadv) 4. Fast adaptation to new products (adv) Products: bells, light fixtures, kitchenware and kettles. 4. Shear Spinning: Principle: the process is similar to metal (conventional) spinning except that: 1. It employs power driven rollers instead of hand tools 2. The wall thickness is reduced at the end of the operation. This process can be considered as a combination of rolling (spinning) and extrusion.

5. Stretch Forming. In stretch forming the metal sheet is clamped along its edges and then stretch over a die, which moves upward or downward. The metal should be stretch by the die beyond its elastic limits to give a permanent set (deformation). Calculation: The required pressure for stretch forming, P = 1.25YsA Where Ys Yield strength of metal, psi , A area, in2 A combination of stretch and draw forming can be employed. The sheet is first stretch and then pressed between two halves of a die (refer fig. 15.9b) 6. Swaging and Cold Forming Swaging is a special type of cold forging in which the metal is formed and shaped in the cavity of a die by means of successive hammer blows. Sizing is a cold working used to finalise the dimensions of a part by slight compression.

 Rotary swaging: A solid rod or wire is subjected to radial impacts by a set of reciprocating dies. Cold forming ( Heading or Upsetting) Heading is an upsetting operation of the end of a rod in order to produce a larger cross section. Examples: nails, bolts, rivets and other fasteners. Types of heading: (refer to diagram) Intraforming: is used to form internal configurations inside the work (refer to fig. 15.14) 7. Hobbing Hobbing consist of pressing a hardened punch, having a aprticular tip geometry, into a block of metal. The cavity produced is then used as a die. 8. Coining In coining, compression of a soft metal is performed in a completely

Closed die cavity. As a result, shallow configurations are obtained. The die cavity is completely closed at the time of compression so the metal is not allowed to flow to outside. That is why the process requires high pressures. Products: coins. 9. Embossing It does not require high pressures because it is performed in open dies. Examples: name plates and identification tags (refer to fig. 15.17) 10. Riveting Riveting is heading of the end of a rivet placed in a hole made in the two parts to be fastened. 11. Roll Forming This is a high production process for fabrication flat metal strips (narrow sheets) into a desired uniform shape of their cross sections by passing them between several pairs of rolls.

12. Plate Bending Metal plates and strips can be bent by passing them between three by passing them between three rollers (two of them are fixed and the third one is adjustable roller upward or downward. 13. Seaming Seaming is the process of joining two edges of sheets by flattening them by compression. (Folding) Seaming produces watertight and airtight joints ( for containers)