Why Metal Shaping is necessary in Engineering & its Classification

Manufacturing process

Manufacturing processes have become such an intricate part of our lives that we all are surrounded by it still we often don’t realize or think about it.

There are so many things that we use nowadays right from the time we get up in the morning till we sleep. And all those things from a simple paper pin to mobile phones, pens nib to pants zip each and everything  that gives us an ease of work through our lives are all manufactured and has come to us after going through certain manufacturing processes.

Manufacturing process simply means a process of converting raw materials into final product.

Also it can be looked as a collection of technologies that specifies the exact method to manufacture and get the final product using the available materials and resources.

The basic idea of manufacturing is to create or produce something that has an important meaning or purpose to its existence, something that can serve us in better ways providing us comfort on the go.

Any manufacturing process that we use can be categorized under these following branches.

1) Metal Shaping or Metal Forming

Metal forming can be defined as the process of permanent deformation in the shape of a body under the action of external forces. And this process can be done either under hot or cold conditions to obtain desired accuracy.

Now metal shaping includes numerous processes under it.

Casting: Casting being the oldest and the easiest process forms the pioneer of manufacturing industry. It is a widely used process and also very economical in comparision tto other processes.

This process has been used since the primitive time as the evidence is found in many ancient civilization.

It is the process in which a liquid metal is poured into a mould that contains a hollow cavity of desired shape and then it is allowed to cool and solidify to get the desired shape of the product.

Later the casting product is machined for desired accuracy and shape.

Rolling: It is a process in which the metal stocks are deformed ito semi-finished or finished condition by passing these between one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness and get the desired thickness of the component.

Forging: Forging is the process of metal shaping using localized compressive forces to get the desired shape. Here the operation can be carried out either hot or cold.

It is usually carried out when the temperature is in plastic range and then a pressure is applied on metal to get desired shape and size.

Drawing: It is a cold working process in which the metal is pulled through a tapered hole in a die to reduce its diameter.

Most probably it is used for wires to change its diameter.

It offers clean and accurate dimensions besides excellent quality of surface to the component.

Extrusion: It is an important process of manufacturing where a metal block is passed through die with application of force. And all this is done when the material is under the plastic temperature range.

Extrusion is used for rod, tube, channel, I or Z section as well as circular and square shaped hollow or solid parts.

Forming: Forming can be explained simply as the operation where we change the shape of a component by following ways

• Curling operation
• Bulging operation
• Stretching operation
• Tube forming

Embossing: Embossing is done to get a required impression on a sheet metal by application of pressure. Here the pressure is applied in form of die and punch.

The sheet metal is kept between a punch and die and the required design is impressed on it by application of right amount of pressure.

Most usually used to emboss letters on a surface

Bending: It is the method of transforming a straight line component into some curved length component by application of pressure.

Bending is a very common process used in order to change sheet metals and plates into channels, drums, tanks etc.

Spinning: A method where circular cross sections are to be made is done by spinning. Here a blank is made to surface on the rotating chuck and by application of pressure the blank is pressed over the rotating block to get the desired shape.

Coining: the blank here is placed between the die and punch to get the impression by application of pressure.

Usually such impression or projection is done on coins or metal ornaments.

Thank you readers to spare your valuable time to read my article.

In the next article we’ll see about the ‘Metal Joining’ manufacturing process and have an overview about it.