24 Oct Cold Forming: One process, a million possibilities
As we’ve discussed recently, cold forming is enjoying a surge in popularity at the moment as large investments are made by corporate R & D departments to see how much further the process can be refined.
Part of this is because (and we’ve long championed this) cold forming is such a versatile process. Through extrusion, drawing or coining, a blank can be made into a wide range of components, segments and assemblies. The upshot here being that there are many beneficial possibilities to engineers depending on the type of component they are working on.
Add to that the ever-expanding range of materials that can be used with cold forming and you realise just how large the potential of the process is. In recent years stainless steel and titanium have been added to the metals podium alongside copper, brass and aluminium. This was done via our own R&D efforts.
Using a specialised metallic lubrication and extrusion coating, avoiding the need for hazardous chemical solutions, the research and development team at Dawson Shanahan have eliminated the problem of galling. This prevents damage being caused to the components and tooling, which often presents itself in the form of scores or surface imperfections, thus maintaining consistent quality in all finished parts.
The advantages of this new process will be of particular benefit to those areas of industry requiring robust, ultra-high precision parts, including laser applications, where cold formed nozzles significantly increase cutting accuracy.
With exciting new techniques and a growing list of available materials that are able to be cold formed, there’s never been a better time to test what cold forming can do.
To find out more about the cold forming process and the latest innovations, read our technical article.