Forming

What is Forming

Forming transforms the processed feed material into a consolidated form having a particular geometry and
microstructure.
The "green product" is produced with a controlled size, shape, and surface and a particular density and
microstructure.

Sintered Zirconia sample Zirconia toughened alumina sample

Sintered alumina sample
 Green body Sintered body

Careful control of the density and microstructure of the green ceramic is necessary to obtain ultimate
product performance, because large defects introduced in forming are commonly not eliminated when the
product is fired.
Surface smoothness is commonly desirable and may be essential for some products. The smoothness may
be enhanced when using a particular forming technique.
As-formed strength must be sufficient for handling and subsequent finishing operations.
Reproducibility of the dimensions of product items is also very important in industrial production.
The size and green density of the part must be controlled to maintain a constant shrinkage factor between
the formed and fired product.
 Selection criterion
Selection of a particular forming operation depends on many factors such as product size and shape, surface
character, tolerance specifications, microstructural characteristics, forming productivity, business
considerations such as capital investment, and safety and environmental impact.

Selection of the forming process to produce a particular product depends on several technical factors and
business related factors such as the volume of production and capital costs. Technical considerations
include the shape and size of the product item, the quality of the internal microstructure and surface,
tolerance specifications for size and shape, property specifications, the ease and availability of secondary
forming/finishing operations, technical support of mechanization and automation, and the general
sensitivity of the processing system to fluctuations in the characteristics of incoming starting materials.
Financial analyses are not within the scope of this book.
Powder forming and plastic forming
Other forming methods
 Pressing

 Pressing is the simultaneous compaction and shaping of a powder or granular material confined in a
rigid die or a flexible mold.

 For industrial pressing operations, powder feed is in the form of granules of controlled size and
deformability. The feed granules contain processing additives and are commonly prepared by spray
drying or spray granulation. Feed containing coarse particles and a binder is commonly in the form of a
poorly flowing, semicohesive mass.

 Pressing is the most widely practiced forming process for reasons of productivity and the ability to
produce parts ranging widely in size and shape to close tolerances with essentially no drying shrinkage.
 Contd…

Pressing by means of punches in hardened metal dies, commonly called dry pressing, is commonly used for
pressing parts thicker than 0.5 mm and parts with surface relief in the pressing direction. Isostatic pressing in
flexible rubber molds, commonly called isopressing, is used for producing shapes with relief in two or three
dimensions, shapes with one elongated dimension such as rods and tubes, and very massive products with a
thick cross section. Large shallow products are produced using a combination of metal die and isostatic pressing
and large sheets by roll pressing.

Products produced by pressing include a wide variety of magnetic and dielectric ceramics, various fine grained
technical alumina products including chip carriers and spark plugs, engineering ceramics such as cutting tools
and refractory sensors, ceramic tile and porcelain products, and coarse-grained refractories, grinding wheels,
and structural clay products.
 Process Variables in Dry Pressing

Stages in dry pressing include (1) the filling of the die, (2) compaction and shaping, and (3) ejection, as shown in
Fig. Note that free-flowing granules are fed to the die by means of a sliding feed shoe and are metered
volumetrically.
Punch and die motions are commonly coordinated to induce vacuum assisting settling of the powder in the
cavity of the die. Poorly flowing feed is usually preweighed and fed by hand or by mechanically induced flow.
Contd…

(top) Action of feeding

shoe pushes away pressed
part and fills die; pressing
and ejection motions
using a floating die for
(middle) one-level part
and (bottom) two-level
part.
(Courtesy of Dorst
Maschinen und
Anlangenbau, Kochel A.
See, Germany.)
 Extrusion
Extrusion is shaping by forcing a cohesive plastic material through the orifice of a rigid die. A lineated extrudate
with a controlled cross section is formed which is then cut to length to form the product.

Industrial pug mill with deairing chamber and extrusion auger.

Contd… Materials and Product for extrusion

The plastic consistency is produced using clay binder, a polymeric organic binder, or a mixture of the two types.
Extrusion is a very productive forming technique that is used for the mass production of both large products
ranging up to more than 1 ton and small products weighing only a few grams.

Extruded compositions include both oxide and nonoxide

ceramics such as carbides and nitrides. Traditional construction
materials such as brick and tile, refractories such as
thermocouple protection tubes, furnace tubes, silicon carbide
heat exchanger tubes, and kiln furniture, porcelain electrical
insulators, magnets and electronic substrates.
A special type "honeycomb" cellular catalyst supports,
and transparent ceramic tubes for efficient lamps are
produced by extrusion.
Substrates may be extruded at a thickness < 1 mm.
Warm extrusion is used when forming graphite
electrodes, and extrusion is used for forming
composites.
The stages in extrusion are (1) material feeding, (2) consolidation and flow of the
feed material in the barrel, (3) flow through a tapered die or orifice, (4) flow
through the die-land of constant or nearly constant cross section, and (5) ejection.
In piston extrusion, feed material is commonly a deaired billet from the pug mill,
which is sometimes enclosed in a sleeve, but may be segmented material. After
inserting the piston and deairing, the feed material is compressed and forced to
flow down the barrel by the moving piston. An advantage of piston extrusion is that
very high pressures can be generated; however, it is an intermittent, low capacity
batch process requiring incremental loading.

Schematic diagram of (top)

piston extruder and (bottom)
auger extruder indicating design
parameters.
 Pressure zones in a Screw extruder
Pressure zones in feeding extrudate using an augur are shown in the Fig.
Segmented feed is conveyed and densified when compacted. The material
becomes continuous in the metering zone. Pressure and velocity gradients are
redistributed on leaving the auger and entering the barrel in Zone 4.
For feeding using a single auger, the material must not slip on the wall of the
barrel. Accordingly, the adhesion of the body on the wall and the area wall/area
auger must be sufficiently high.

Pressure zones during auger feeding.

Contd… Design parameters

Augers should be highly polished to facilitate slippage. Larger augers or tapered

augers may be used to produce a higher extrusion pressure. The number of flights
on the auger controls the number of feed columns displaced. A larger helix angle
increases the potential delivery rate but reduces the compressive thrust on the
material; a helix angle of approximately 20 ̶ 25° is commonly used.

The required ratio of the auger

diameter to the product diameter
increases as the yield strength of the
material increases and when the
friction area of the die land increases.
Heating or cooling the extrudate may
change its adhesion on the metal
surface and its flow resistance
Co-rotating and counter rotating Screw extruder
In single auger extrusion, material is thrust forward but also continues to twist for
some distance downstream from the auger; near-center material moves inward to
fill the cavity in front of the hub of the auger. The axial velocity of material
discharged by the auger is a minimum at the hub and at the wall of the barrel, and
is a relative maximum near the surface of the flight of the auger (see Fig.). The
differential axial velocity is changed as material flows down the barrel. Material
nearer the center axis accelerates and becomes of highest velocity as the extrudate
enters the die. The die alters the differential flow, reduces the cross section, and
produces a particular cross-sectional geometry.

Flow velocity profile

downstream from auger
in barrel.
Geometrical parameters of the complete die are the entrance angle a, the ratio of
the area of the barrel/area of the die orifice called the reduction ratio, and the
wall friction area/cross-sectional area of the die land.
 Extrusion in brief

• During extrusion, material flows from a region of higher pressure to a region of

lower pressure.
• Mechanisms of flow are commonly laminar flow of the body in the barrel and
die-entry regions and plug flow with slippage in the die-land.
• The shear resistance of plastic extrusion bodies varies directly with the yield
strength and is velocity dependent. A lubricating film of different composition
and liquid content is developed on the surface and this film facilitates slippage
and may provide a smoother surface.
• Die design and the shear resistance of the body is important.
• The cohesive strength must support the extruded product and resist
deformation during handling. Extrusion is used to produce a wide variety of
solid and hollow products with a uniform cross section. Variations in the drying
shrinkage and deformation during handling reduce dimensional precision.
 Jiggering, Roller Tool Forming, and
Plastic Transfer Pressing
In ancient times, bricks and pottery were formed by pressing a plastic material in a
mold by hand. Later, hollow ware was formed by pressing one's hands against
material supported on a rotating wheel, which is called jiggering.

A later modification: There is

the replacement of a template
with a roller tool. These
processes are now highly
mechanized and are used for
forming a wide variety of
refractory and electrical
porcelain pieces with surface
relief, institutional porcelain,
cooking ware, and fine china.
Highly automated roller tool
systems are used for the
industrial fabrication of hollow Industrial automatic roller-tool forming machine.
ware (Photo courtesy of A. J. Wahl Inc., Brocton, NY.)
 Contd…

o Feed material is commonly a section of deaired extrudate.

Plastic feed may be pressed in a metal die or between porous molds of a relatively
hard gypsum or other porous material.
 In jiggering, a porous mold or "bat" supports the body. A template or roller tool is
used to deform the plastic body and contour the outer surface.
Small electrical porcelain insulators are commonly formed by forcing a rotating,
heated metal tool into a section of material supported on a porous mold.
Lubrication is produced by heating metal tools to produce steam or by spraying a
lubricant onto a high molecular weight polymer tool, to minimize sticking.
Differential drying shrinkage separates the piece from the mold, but pneumatic
separation is also used.
o Excess material is commonly eliminated by mechanical trimming. Mechanized
fettling is used to smooth surfaces.
 Jiggering parameters
Parameters in plastic pressing and jiggering include the thickness and diameter of
the feed, the thickness reduction, the material flow rate, surface features, the
motion of the contouring tool and its lubrication, imposed vacuum, pressure,
temperature, and the flow properties of the body. Fabrication begins as the feed
material is cut and transferred to the cavity of the mold. On lowering the forming
tool, the body makes contact with the mold and flows laterally in a plane between
the tool and the mold (Fig. below). In this stage, the shear strength of the body is
only about 20 ̶ 250 kPa. Material contacting the surface of the permeable mold
becomes static, but may slide across polished metal. Air may be forced into the
permeable mold to provide pneumatic release of the product.
End