Aerospace Forgings

Forgings refer to products manufactured by the process of

shaping metal utilizing compressive forces. The compressive forces used are generally delivered via
pressing, pounding, or squeezing under great pressure. Although there are many different kinds of
forging processes available, they can be grouped into three main classes:

Drawn out: length increases, cross-section

decreases
Upset: length decreases, cross-section increases
Squeezed in closed compression dies: produces
multidirectional flow

Forging produces pieces that are stronger than an equivalent cast or machined part. As the metal is
shaped during the forging process, the internal grain deforms to follow the general shape of the part.
This results in a grain that is continuous throughout the part, resulting in its high strength
characteristics. Forgings are broadly classified as either cold, warm or hot forgings, according to the
temperature at which the processing is performed.

Iron and steel are nearly always hot forged, which prevents the work hardening that would result from
cold forging. Work hardening increases the difficulty of performing secondary machining operations on
the metal pieces. When work hardening is desired, other methods of hardening, most notably heat
treating, may be applied to the piece. Alloys such as aluminum and titanium that are amenable to
precipitation hardening can be hot forged, followed by hardening. Because of their high strength,
forgings are almost always used where reliability and human safety are critical such as in the
aerospace, automotive, ship building, oil drilling, engine and petrochemical industries.