This article examines aluminum forging processes, including open-die, closed-die, upset, roll, orbital, spin, and mandrel forging, and compares and contrasts their capabilities and the associated design requirements for forged parts. It discusses the effect of key process variables such as workpiece and die temperature, strain rate, and deformation mode. The article describes the relative forgeability of the ten most widely used aluminum alloys, and reviews common forging equipment, including hammers, mechanical and screw presses, and hydraulic presses. It also discusses postforge operations such as trimming, forming, repairing, cleaning, and heat treatment.

This article begins with discussion on forgeability and the factors affecting the forgeability of aluminum and aluminum alloys. It describes the types of forging methods and equipment and reviews critical elements in the overall aluminum forging process: die materials, die design, and die manufacture. The article discusses the critical aspects of various manufacturing elements of aluminum alloy forging, including the preparation of the forging stock, preheating stock, die heating, lubrication, trimming, forming and repair, cleaning, heat treatment, and inspection. It concludes with a discussion on the forging of advanced aluminum materials and aluminum alloy precision forgings.

Titanium alloys are forged into a variety of shapes and types of forgings, with a broad range of final part forging design criteria based on the intended end-product application. This article begins with a discussion on the classes of titanium alloys, their forgeability, and factors affecting forgeability. It describes the forging techniques, equipment, and common processing elements associated with titanium alloy forging. The processing elements include the preparation of forging stock, preheating of the stock, die heating, lubrication, forging process, trimming and repair, cleaning, heat treatment, and inspection. The article presents a discussion on titanium alloy precision forgings and concludes with information on the forging of advanced titanium materials and titanium aluminides.

This article focuses on the forging behavior and practices of carbon and alloy steels. It presents general guidelines for forging in terms of practices, steel selection, forgeability and mechanical properties, heat treatments of steel forgings, die design features, and machining. The article discusses the effect of forging on final component properties and presents special considerations for the design of hot upset forgings.

Stainless steels, based on forging pressure and load requirements, are more difficult to forge because of the greater strength at elevated temperatures and the limitations on the maximum temperatures at which stainless steels can be forged without incurring microstructural damage. This article discusses the forging methods, primary mill practices (primary forging and ingot breakdown), trimming, and cleaning operations of stainless steels. It describes the use of forging equipment, dies, and die material in the forging operation. The article provides an overview of the forgeability of austenitic stainless steels, martensitic stainless steels, precipitation-hardening stainless steels, and ferritic stainless steels. It concludes with a discussion on the heating and lubrication of dies.

This article reviews specific processing characteristics and forging-related properties of commonly forged families of metals and alloys, including carbon and alloy steels, stainless steels, heat-resistant alloys (iron, cobalt, and nickel base alloys), aluminum alloys, copper and copper alloys, magnesium alloys, and titanium alloys. It provides forging process variables such as stock preparation, heating and cooling of forgings, die lubrication, trimming, and cleaning of these metals and alloys. The article explains the effect of temperature, deformation rate, and die temperature on forgeability and describes the forging methods of these metals and alloys.

This article discusses the bulk formability or workability of steels. It describes their formability characteristics and presents procedures for various formability tests used for carbon and alloy steels. Tests for bulk formability can be divided into two main categories: primary tests and specialized tests. The article compares the processing of microalloyed plate and bar products. The article focuses on the use of torsion testing to evaluate the forgeability of carbon and alloy steels and presents information on measuring flow stress. The article discusses the metallurgy and thermomechanical processing of high-strength low-alloy (microalloyed) steels and the various parts of the rolling operation. The article summarizes some of the common tests for determining formability in open-die and closed-die forgings.