Hot die forging, also known as isothermal forging, is one of the advanced forging used in the development of forged products from materials that can be a little bit difficult to forge using conventional means.

Hot die forging can be used to make a lot of products. You can look at the range of products that hotforgingchina is producing using the technology.

How the Hot Die Forging Works

What makes the hot die forging process unique from the other forging or the typical hot forging process is the heating of the die. Unlike the typical process where only the workpiece is heated, you will need to heat the dies to the same temperature.

The heating of the dies is meant to control the strain rates when forging to improve the precision of the process. The technique is mainly used for softer metals than steel because of the high difference in the forging temperature. This means the steel die will not deform when deforming the workpiece.

Pros of hot die forging

There are so many benefits that come with forging using the hot die forging process. Here are some of the things you will like about the process:

Near net shapes

One of the biggest benefits is that you will get near-net shapes with this forging process. This simply means that you will be spending very little or nothing when it comes to the machining process. So, the whole process will produce lower scrap rates.

High reproducibility

The reproducibility of the parts with the hot die forging process is very high. If you are planning to do mass production, then this would be the ideal process. Once you have set the dies and the press unit, you just need to maintain the heat of the die for mass production.

You Can Use Small Machines

The hot die forging has very low heat loss because the dies are already hot when bringing the workpiece. This means the temperatures of the workpiece can be maintained throughout the forging process. So, you can use smaller machines since the amount of compression force needed is small.

Cons of hot die forging

Some of the hot die forging disadvantages includes:

Expensive

You need to invest in high-quality die material that can handle the high temperature and pressures. This makes the process quite expensive than the typical hot forging process.

Oxidation Reduction

You need to invest in protective atmospheres to reduce the oxidation in the die materials. This is also an extra cost.