Metals Processing

Chapter 14:
 Outline

 Metal Forming Techniques

 Casting Process
 Miscellaneous Processes: Powder
Metallurgy and Welding
 Thermal Processing – Metals
 Hardenability
Metal Fabrication Techniques Overview
 Forming
 Forming operations (forging, rolling, drawing, extrusion) are where the shape of
a metal is changed by plastic deformation.
 Forming processes are commonly classified into hot-working and cold-working
operations.
• Forging (Hammering; Stamping)
• Rolling (Hot or Cold Rolling)
(wrenches, crankshafts, piston connecting
(I-beams, rails, sheet & plate)
rods ) force
roll
die Ad
often at Ao
A o blank Ad
elev. T
roll
force
• Extrusion
• Drawing
(rods, tubing)
(rods, wire, tubing)
Ao
die Ad container die holder
tensile force
Ao ram billet extrusion Ad
force
die container die
die must be well lubricated & clean ductile metals, e.g. Cu, Al (hot) 4
 Hot Working
 Hot-working refers to processes where metals are
plastically deformed above their recrystallization
temperature. This allows the material to recrystallize during
deformation and prevents the materials from strain
hardening; the yield strength and hardness are not
increased, while ductility is retained.
 Hot-working processes: rolling, extrusion or forging typically
are used in the first step of converting a cast ingot into a
wrought product.
 Deformation energy requirements are less than for cold
work.
 The lower limit of the hot working temperature is
determined by its recrystallization temperature. The upper
limit for hot working is determined by excessive oxidation,
grain growth, undesirable phase transformation.
 Recrystallization
 Recrystallization is the formation of a new set of
strain-free and equiaxed grains that have low
dislocation densities (pre-cold work state).
 The driving force to produce the new grain
structure is the internal energy difference between
strained and unstrained material.
 The new grains form as very small nuclei and
grow until they consume the parent material.
 Recrystallization temperature is between 1/3 Tm to
1/2 Tm.

6
 Watch a Cold-Drawn Tubing Process

Cold Working
View the video.

 When cold-working is excessive, the metal will

fracture before reaching the final shape.
 Cold-working operations are usually carried out in
several steps with annealing used to soften the
cold-worked metal and restore ductility.
 A higher quality surface finish than hot working.
 Closer dimensional control of the finished piece.
 Cold-working of a metal results in an increase in
strength or hardness and a decrease in ductility.
 http://www.forging.it/
Forging
 Forging is the process where metal (Fe,
Ti, Al) is heated and shaped by plastic
deformation (compressive forces). The
compressive force typically comes from
hammer blows or a press.
 Forged articles have outstanding grain
structures and the best combination of
mechanical properties. Forging refines the
grain structure and improves physical
properties of the metal.
 With proper design, the grain flow can be
oriented in the direction of principal
stresses encountered in actual use. Grain
flow is the direction of the pattern that the
Grain
crystals take during plastic deformation.
Flow
 Forging
Alcoa announces that its Alcoa Auto Wheels business is supplying lightweight forged
aluminum wheels for the new Ferrari 458 Italia. The front wheel weighs just 22.8 pounds and
the rear wheel weighs 25.3 pounds, a result that is achievable only with a forging process.
Wheel diameters are increased to 20 inches to accommodate large carbon-ceramic brake
discs. Learn more.

 Physical properties (strength, ductility and toughness) are

much better in a forging than in the base metal that has
crystals randomly oriented.
 Forgings are consistent from piece to piece, without any of Connecting rods
the porosity, voids, inclusions and other defects. Also
coating operations such as plating or painting are
straightforward due to a good surface that needs very little
preparation.
 The forge or smithy is the workplace of a smith or a crankshafts

blacksmith. A basic smithy contains a forge for heating the

metals to a temperature where work hardening ceases to
accumulate, an anvil (to lay the metal pieces on while
hammering), and a slack tub (to rapidly cool and harden
forged metal pieces). Tools include tongs (not thongs) to
9
hold the hot metal and hammers to strike the hot metal.
 Die Forging
 Most forging processes begin with open die forging.
 Open die forging shapes heated metal parts between a top die attached
to a ram and a bottom die attached to a hammer anvil or giant hydraulic
press bed.
 Metal parts are worked above their recrystallization temperatures
(ranging from 1900°F to 2400°F for steel) and gradually shaped into the
desired configuration through hammering or pressing.
 While impression or closed die forging confines the metal in dies, open
die forging is never completely confined or restrained in the dies.
 Wrenches, automotive crankshafts and piston connecting rods are
typical objects formed by forging.
 Some disadvantages of forging are the high cost (dies) and high
residual stress produced.
Closed die forging - The shaping of hot
metal within the walls of two dies that come
together to completely enclose the work
piece.
 Rolling
 The process of plastically deforming a metal
by passing it between rollers; a reduction in
thickness results from compressive stresses
exerted by the rolls.
 This is the most widely used metalworking
process because it lends itself to high
production and close control of the final
product.
 After extraction processes, many molten
metals are solidified by casting into large
ingot molds. The ingots are normally
subjected to hot rolling to produce a flat
sheet or slab. These are more convenient
shapes for subsequent metal forming
operations (extrusion, forging, drawing).
http://www.titanium.org/chinese/English/Technical%20Data/Manufacturing%20Techniques/rolling.html
 Hot Rolling & Cold Rolling
 The principal rolling processes are hot rolling and cold
rolling.
 Hot rolling is the most common method of refining the cast
structure of ingots and billets to make primary shapes.
 Bars of circular or hexagonal cross section like I beams,
channels, and railroad rails are produced in great quantity
by hot rolling with grooved rolls.
 Cold rolling is most often a secondary forming process
that is used to make bar, sheet, strip and foil with superior
surface finish and dimensional tolerances.
 Extrusion
A bar of metal is forced through a die orifice by a
compressive force that is applied to a ram
 The extruded piece that emerges has the desired shape
and a reduced cross-sectional area.
Extrusion products include rods and tubing, but shapes of
irregular cross-sections may be produced form the more
readily extrudable metals, like Al.
 Extrusion is increasingly utilized in the working of metals
difficult to form, like stainless steels, Ni-based alloys, and
other high-temperature materials
 Extrusion of Tubing
 To produce tubing by extrusion, a mandrel must be fastened to the
end of the extrusion ram
 The mandrel extends to the entrance of the extrusion die, and the
clearance between the mandrel and the die wall determines the wall
thickness of the extruded tube
 One method of extruding a tube is to use a hollow billet for the
starting material
 Drawing
 Drawing is the pulling of a metal piece through a die
having a tapered bore by means of a tensile force that is
applied on the exit side
 Rod, wire and tubing products are commonly fabricated in
this way.
 Wiredrawing usually starts with a coil of hot-rolled rod
 Draw speeds vary from about 30 to 300 ft/min
 In general, the term wire refers to small diameter products
under 5 mm that may be drawn rapidly on multiple-die
machines.
http://www.titanium.org/chinese/English/Technical%20Data/Manufacturing%20Techniques/forming.html
 Casting Methods
©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license.

Four typical casting processes:

(a) and (b) Green sand molding
where clay-bonded sand is
packed around a pattern. Sand
cores can produce internal
cavities in the casting. (c) The
permanent mold process
where metal is poured into an
iron or steel mold. (d) Die
casting where metal is injected
at high pressure into a steel
die. (e) Investment casting
where a wax pattern is
surrounded by a ceramic; after
the wax is melted and drained,
metal is poured into the mold.
 Casting
 Casting  a fabrication process whereby a totally
molten metal is poured into a mold cavity having the
desired shape; upon solidification, the metal
assumes the shape of the mold but experiences
some shrinkage.
 Casting techniques are used when
1. The finished shape is so large or complicated
that any other method would be impractical
2. A particular alloy is so low in ductility that
forming by either hot or cold working would be
difficult
3. In comparison to other fabrication processes,
casting is the most economical.
 Sand Casting
 Sand can withstand T >1600ºC
 Sand is inexpensive and easy to mold.
 A two-piece mold is formed by packing sand around
a pattern that has the shape of the intended casting.
 Often used for large parts, auto engine blocks (see
images).
 A mold is formed by using single or multiple patterns.
 The molding sand (silica sand with binder) used,
results in a stable and refractory mold which is a
perfect negative of the pattern.

http://www.vonroll-casting.ch/en/
 Die Casting

 The liquid metal is forced into a mold (die) under pressure at

a relatively high velocity, then allowed to solidify with the
pressure maintained.
 A two-piece permanent steel mold is used; when clamped
together, the two pieces form the desired shape.
 When complete solidification has been achieved, the mold
pieces are opened and the cast piece is ejected.
 Rapid casting rates are possible, making this an inexpensive
method; a single set of molds may be used for thousands of
castings.
 This technique lends itself only to relatively small pieces and
to alloys of low melting points such as Zn, Al and Mg
 Investment Casting (lost-wax
casting)
• Investment Casting
(low volume, complex shapes like jewelry, turbine blades,
jewelry and dental crowns and inlays, and jet engine impellers)

• Stage I — Mold formed by pouring wax I

plaster of paris around wax pattern. Plaster die
Plaster allowed to harden. formed
around
• Stage II — Wax is melted and then wax
poured from mold—hollow mold
II
prototype
cavity remains.
• Stage III — Molten metal is poured
into mold and allowed to solidify. III

22
 Continuous Casting
 Continuous casting (also called strand casting) is
the process whereby molten steel is solidified into
a "semi-finished" billet, bloom or slab for
subsequent rolling in the finishing mills.
 In the continuous casting process, molten metal is
poured from the ladle into the tundish and then
through a submerged entry nozzle into a mold
cavity.
 The mold is water-cooled so that enough heat is
extracted to solidify a shell of sufficient thickness.
The shell is withdrawn from the bottom of the mold
at a "casting speed" that matches the inflow of
metal, so that the process ideally operates at
steady state. Below the mold, water is sprayed to
further extract heat from the strand surface, and
the strand eventually becomes fully solid when it
reaches the ''metallurgical length''.
 Casting Defects — Cavities
 Blowholes, pinholes, shrinkage cavities, & porosity
 Blowholes and pinholes are holes formed by gas
entrapped during solidification.
 Shrinkage cavities are cavities that have a rougher shape
and sometimes penetrate deep into the casting.
Shrinkage cavities are caused by lack of proper feeding or
non-progressive solidification.
 Porosity is pockets of gas inside the metal caused by
micro-shrinkage, e.g. dendritic shrinkage during
solidification.
 Casting Defects — Discontinuities
Cracks in casting and are caused by hot tearing, hot
cracking, and lack of fusion (cold shut)
 A hot tear is a fracture formed during solidification because of
hindered contraction.
 A hot crack is a crack formed during cooling after solidification
because of internal stresses developed in the casting.
 Lack of fusion is a discontinuity caused when two streams of
liquid in the solidifying casting meet but fail to unite.
 Rounded edges indicate poor contact between various metal
streams during filling of the mold.
 Dendrites of a shrinkage cavity in an aluminum alloy
• Discontinuities in
castings that exhibit a
size, shape, orientation,
or location that makes
them detrimental to the
useful service life of the
casting.
• Some casting defects
are remedied by minor
repair or refurbishing
techniques, such as
welding.
• Other casting defects
are cause for rejection
of the casting.
 Cast and Wrought Alloys
 The distinctive metallurgical characteristics of castings are
acquired during solidification, whereas with wrought
materials, they are acquired during mechanical
deformation.
 The principal metallurgical difference between castings
and wrought materials is that castings lack homogeneity.
 They do not have the benefit of hot work to accelerate the diffusion
of the chemical elements to achieve homogenization.
 Cast alloys require significantly longer soaking times to achieve
homogenization.
 Cast alloys frequently contain more silicon to improve the fluidity of
the molten metal.
 Solidified castings contain high residual stresses from solid
shrinkage, unless they are removed by a stress relief annealing
process.
 How Metals are Made
Cool Stuff Being Made: How Steel Is Made
Watch aluminum foil being made

Learn more.

From ore to sheet, watch how US Steel makes steel products.

Learn more.

Watch how Superior Tube rolls its product.

This 1300-pound bronze bell was cast by the

Meneely Foundry in West Troy, New York, in
1850. The video shows how a bronze bell is cast.
A flat strip is rolled into a tubular shape and the seam is welded, without Learn more.
the use of flux or filler metal. Watch the video.
Basic steps in the extraction of steels using iron ores, coke
and limestone.
(Source: www.steel.org. Used with permission of the American Iron and Steel Institute.)
Secondary processing steps in processing of steel and alloys.

(Source: www.steel.org. Used with permission of the American Iron and Steel Institute.) Animation shows blast
furnace operation in a
training video from
Corus Steel (now part of
Tata Steel).
Watch video.
 Metal Fabrication Methods

Nanophase
Al-7.5Mg

Powder Evolution
during Cryo-Milling
31
 Powder Metallurgy
 A fabrication technique involves the compaction of
powdered metal, followed by a heat treatment to
produce a more dense piece.
 Powder metallurgy is especially suitable for metals
 having low ductilities
 having high melting temperatures

Production of P/M Parts:

 Preparation of Metal Powders
 Compaction (pressing)
 Sintering (densification) at
elevated temperature
 Nano-Aluminum Target Applications
Rocket Engine:
Extruded,
Flow-Formed
& Friction
Welded High
Pressure
Propellant
Ducts Formed sheet panels for elevated
Undersea Vehicle Hull
temperature fairings

Forged Inducer &

Impellers in Fuel
Turbopump

High Specific Strength Rivets

Friction Welded Plate

Normal Grain Rivet Laminated Foils

Lightweight, Structural Armor

Submicron Grain Rivet  Reduce assembly costs

 Reduce life cycle costs
 Reduce fastener weights
 Welding
 In welding, two or more metal parts are joined to form a single piece
when one-part fabrication is expensive or inconvenient.
 Both similar and dissimilar metals may be welded.
 The joining bond is metallurgical (involving some diffusion) rather
than just mechanical, as with riveting and bolting.
 A variety of welding methods exist, including arc and gas welding, as
well as brazing and soldering.
 Brazing is a joining process whereby a filler metal or alloy is heated
to melting temperature above 450 °C (840 °F).
 Soldering is a process where two or more metals are joined together
by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, the melting point of
the filler metal is below 400 °C (752 °F).
 During arc and gas welding, the work pieces to be joined and the filler
material are heated to a sufficiently high temperature to cause both to
melt; upon solidification, the filler material forms a fusion joint
between the work pieces.
 Heat-Affected Zone (HAF)
 The heat-affected zone is the narrow region of the base metal adjacent to
the weld bead, which is metallurgically altered by the heat of welding.
 The heat-affected zone is usually the major source of metallurgical
problems in welding.
 The width of the heat-affected zone depends on the amount of heat input
during welding and increases with the heat input. If the material was
previously cold worked, the HAF may have experienced recrystallization
and grain growth, and a diminishment of strength, hardness and
toughness.

Generally, the heat-affected

zone varies from 1.5 mm to 6.5
mm wide (0.06 in to 0.25 in)
©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license. A schematic
diagram of the
fusion zone and
solidification of
the weld during
initial prepared joint fusion welding.

weld with filler metal

weld after solidification

 Microstructural Changes Nearby HAF
 For steels, the material in this zone may have been heated
to temperatures sufficiently high so as to form austenite.
Upon cooling to room temperature, the microstructural
products that form depend on cooling rate and alloy
composition.
 For plain carbon steels, normally pearlite and a
proeutectoid phase will be present.
 For alloy steels, one microstructural product phase may be
martensite, which is ordinarily undesirable because it is so
brittle.
 Upon cooling, residual stresses may form in this region
that weaken the joint.
 It can also lead to loss of corrosion resistance in stainless
steels and nickel-base alloys.
 Preheating and Post-Weld Heat Treatment
 With carbon and low-alloy steels, the rapid cooling rate from the
welding temperature is similar to quenching in heat treatment
operations
 The higher the carbon or alloy content, the more easily martensite is
formed and the more brittle the martensite is
 This situation may easily cause cracking as the steel cools down.
 Steels that are susceptible to cracking must be preheated to “cushion”
the effects of martensite formation.
 They are also post-weld heat treated to temper (improve the
toughness) any martensite that is formed and additionally stress relieve
the joint.
 Stress Relieving - Always done below the transformation temperature
of the metal to minimize the welds residual stress. The temperature is
held for roughly an hour until the residual stresses are minimized, then
cooled very slowly to prevent new stresses from setting up in the
metal.
 Carbon Equivalent
 The carbon equivalent is a formula based on chemical
composition that determines the need to preheat and post-
weld carbon and low-alloy steels.

 The higher the carbon equivalent, the greater the tendency

toward cracking in the heat-affected zone.

 Plain carbon steels with a carbon equivalent < 0.4% to

0.5% are considered readily weldable without the need for
preheating or post-weld heat treatment.

Carbon Equivalent (CE)

= %C + %Mn/6 + %Ni/20 + %Cr/10 + %Cu/40 –%Mo/50 – %V/10
 Cracking in Welding
 Cracking is rarely tolerated and must be removed by
grinding
 Crack formation is aggravated
 by welding fixtures that do not permit contraction of the
weld during cooling,
 by narrow joints with large depth-to-width ratios,
 by poor ductility of the deposited weld metal,
 or by a high coefficient of thermal expansion coupled
with low-heat conductivity in the parent metal
 Hydrogen Cracking
 Hydrogen cracking occurs in the heat-affected zone of
some steels as hydrogen diffuses into this region when the
weld cools
 Hydrogen cracking is caused by atomic hydrogen.
 The sources of atomic hydrogen are
 organic material,
 chemically bonded water in the electrode coating,
 absorbed water in the electrode coating,
 and moisture on the steel surface at the location of the
weld
 Methods of Avoiding Hydrogen Cracking
 Using low-hydrogen electrodes, which includes baking and
storing them in a low-temperature oven.

 Preheating the surface of the steel before welding to

remove moisture.

 Post-weld heat treating immediately to force the hydrogen

to escape.

 Peening immediately after each pass is also beneficial

because it induces compressive stresses and offsets the
tendency toward cracking.
 Thermal Processing of Metals
Common forms of heat treating processes.
• Stress Relief: Reduce • Spheroidize (steels):
stresses resulting from: Make very soft steels for
- plastic deformation good machining. Heat just
- nonuniform cooling below Teutectoid & hold for
- phase transform. 15-25 h.

• Full Anneal (steels):

Types of Make soft steels for
good forming. Heat
Annealing to get g, then furnace-cool
to obtain coarse pearlite.
• Process Anneal:
Negate effects of
• Normalize (steels): Deform
cold working by
steel with large grains. Then heat
(recovery/
treat to allow recrystallization
recrystallization)
and formation of smaller grains.

43
 Heat Treatment Temperature-Time Paths

A
a) Full Annealing P
b) Quenching
c) Tempering:
(Tempered Martensite)
B
A

b) a)
c)
44
 Annealing
 Annealing describes a
heating, holding and cooling
process to achieve specific
metallurgical results.
 The Fe-iron carbide phase

diagram shows the eutectoid

region.
 The horizontal line at the

eutectoid temp., labeled A1,

is the lower critical
temperature (LCT). All
austenite will have
transformed into ferrite and
cementite phases below the
LCT.
The phase boundaries denoted A3
and Acm represent the upper critical
temperature lines for hypoeutectoid
and hypereutectoid steels. For
temperatures above these
boundaries, only austenite will exist.
 An annealing treatment called normalizing is used to refine
the grains (decrease the average grain size) and produce a
more uniform size distribution; fine grained pearlitic steels
are tougher than coarse-grained ones.
 To normalize, the temperature must be raised roughly 55
degrees above the upper critical temperature (above A3 or
Acm depending on composition).

Normalizing
continuous conveyorized normalizing furnace

46
 Hardenability -- Steels
• Hardenability – measure of the ability to form martensite
• Jominy end quench test used to measure hardenability.

Hardness, HRC
Plot hardness versus
distance from the
quenched end.

Distance from quenched end

Hardness Changes
with Distance
Correlation of hardenability
and continuous cooling
information for and iron-iron
carbon alloy of eutectoid
composition.
 Hardenability vs Alloy Composition
"Alloy Steels"
(4140, 4340, 5140, 8640)
-- contain Ni, Cr, Mo
(0.2 to 2 wt%)
-- these elements shift the
"nose" to longer times (from A
to B)
-- martensite is easier to form

800
T(°C) TE
600
A B
400

200 M(start)
M(90%)
0
10-1 10 103 105 Time (s)

Hardenability curves for 5 alloys each with 0.4 wt% C.

 Hardenability curves for 8600 series alloys where only carbon
content is varied.
 Hardness increases with carbon content.
 Also, during production of steel, there is always a minor variation in
composition and average grain size from one batch to another; this
results in some scatter of measured hardness values.
 Hardenability band for an 8640 steel indicating maximum and
minimum limits for hardness.
Influences of Quenching Medium & Specimen Geometry
• Effect of quenching medium:
Medium Severity of Quench Hardness
air low low
oil moderate moderate
water high high
• Effect of specimen geometry:
When surface area-to-volume ratio increases:
-- cooling rate throughout interior increases
-- hardness throughout interior increases
Position Cooling rate Hardness
center low low
surface high high

51