Sinoway offers drop forging production and supplies custom metal parts made through the open & closed(impression) die forging processes.
Forging is a manufacturing process to form the metal parts into the desired shape. And for detailed information about the metal forging process, we can click the link to refer to Wikipedia. Among the diverse forging processes, drop forging is a critical method, and it belongs to hot forging scopes. And there are two types of drop forging processes, open die forging and closed die forging(impression die forging). As a matter of fact, each operation works widely in the actual production. And both these two drop forging methods are commonly applied in a series production procedure.
Sinoway started drop forging production in the 1990s’. Both open die and closed die forgings are available in our workshop, and we make the dies by ourselves with our CNC machining equipment. Furthermore, we equipped the forging factory with advanced testing instruments, such as hardness tester, spectrometer, and metallographic microscope, to guarantee the casting metal’s grade and mechanical properties.
And in our factory, the materials used for the drop forging processes include carbon steels, alloyed steels, and stainless steels. And most of our die-forged products are widely applied in many fields, such as construction hardware, construction & agriculture machinery, automotive, industrial equipment, mining machinery, etc.
If you have a metal part that needs to be customized, either for prototype or mass production, contact us immediately to get a quote.
What is a drop forging process?
Drop forging is a hot forging process applied to form the metal workpiece into the desired shape with a die. In this process, the forging machine will raise a hammer and drop it onto the workpiece, making the metal into the dies’ cavities. There are two types of drop forging: open-die drop forging and impression-die (or closed-die) drop forging. As the names imply, the difference is in the formation of the die, with the former not fully enclosing the workpiece, while the latter does.
We can choose the right drop forging process for parts with different characteristics, open-die forging, closed-die forging, or both in the actual manufacturing procedures.
A drop forging production procedure
Open die drop forging
With the open die forging process, the workers need to position the pre-heated workpiece onto the bottom die, and the dies are always with flat surfaces. While the hammer dropped, it will make the metal flowed into the dies’ cavities and get the desired shape. And the reason we call it open-die forging is the formation of the mold, which will not completely enclose the workpiece.
Open-die forging can form the workpiece into shapes including discs, hubs, blocks, shafts (including step shafts or with flanges), sleeves, cylinders, flats, hexes, rounds, plate, and some custom shapes. The advantages of open-die forging include improved microstructure, continuous grain flow, better fatigue resistance, finer grain size, greater strength, etc.
Closed-die drop forging(Impression-die forging)
It is absolutely the same thing when we talk about closed-die forging and impression-die forging. In this process, we place the to-be-forged metal in the die, and when the hammer drops down, it will compress the workpiece into the cavities to get the desired shape. And the whole set of molds will enclose the forged metal completely. That’s why we call it closed-die drop forging.
Closed-die forging has a high initial cost due to the creation of dies and required design work to make dies. However, it has lower recurring costs for greater production volume; this is why we often use closed-die forgings in the automotive and tool industries. Another reason forgings are typical in these industrial sectors is that forgings generally have about a 20 percent higher strength-to-weight ratio than cast or machined parts of the same material.
Advantages of drop forging processes
Along with the drop forging production, we can find many benefits with this process, such as high production efficiency, low labor intensity, accurate size, small machining allowance, etc. However, because the die cost is high and die forging equipment is required, it is not suitable for single or small batch production.
General speaking, the main advantages of the drop-forging processes include:
1. The die’s chamber can guide the flow of the metal so that we can get forgings with complex shapes;
2. The forging flow lines distribute according to the forging’s contour, and it improves the mechanical properties and service life of the parts;
3. Simple operation, easy mechanization, and high productivity;
Why choose Sinoway as a partner for your metal products?
Based on more than 20 years of practice, and overall technical support from our rich-experienced engineering team, Sinoway can supply customers with the most optimal solution to choose the right manufacturing process and material, which expects to save a 10% cost for the project. Meanwhile, based on our service team’s quick response, we are always there whenever you need us, saving time for both of us.
Benefits of Sinoway’s metal forging factory include:
- Our production facilities are equipped with testing instruments, including hardness tester, spectrometer, and metallographic microscopes.
- Sinoway can manufacture forgings made of most steel alloys. We can meet your requirements from prototyping to mass production.
- A technology supporting team that includes both hands-on production engineers coming from the workshop and professional design engineers from modern universities;
- In addition to the drop forging production lines, Sinoway also has other metal manufacturing processes, such as sheet metal stamping, metal casting, CNC machining, Welding, and surface treatment. And that’s why we can meet customers’ demands for a one-stop service of manufacturing a whole set of their products.
Quality control policy of Sinoway foundry
Sinoway has established our quality management policy strictly following the ISO 9001 standard in the metal forging factory. We require every step of the order execution to be managed and controlled, providing customers consistent quality products and services.
Our quality management policy includes the following aspects.
- Raw metal composition inspection;
- Sample quality inspection, including dimensions, chemical composition, and mechanical properties;
- Mass production forging monitoring;
- Quality inspection after mass production;
- Packaging and transportation inspection;
- All tests must have traceable inspection reports on file.
Win-Win Cooperation
With our specialty in metal parts production, we have been serving many customers engaged in different industries like Home Appliances, Construction, Automobiles, Heavy Equipment, etc.