Advantages And Disadvantages Of Hot Working And Cold Working

By Author: Meet
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There are various types of tool steel. Each type of tool steel has distinct properties and is ideal for specific purpose. Hot work tool steel and cold work tool steel are two of its common variety. Depending on the manufacturing procedure, application, endurance toward pressure and temperature conditions hot work and cold work tool steel can be differentiated. Hot work tool steel has the capability to endure extreme heat, high wears and tears as well as pressure conditions of the manufacturing unit which perform procedures such as forming, punching of metals at very high temperatures or shearing. Tool steel suppliers say that cold work tool steel is used for entirely different purposes. The latter is primarily used for cutting or forming materials which are at low temperatures.
1. Advantages of hot working – Hot working is generally preferred for mass production work. Both the metal size and shape can be easily reshaped. The grain structure of metal is refined. In this case, metal works are done under extremely high temperatures. Hence, it can lead to larger deformation. Defects and stresses of any kind are least. Physical, ...
... chemical and mechanical properties of metals can be enhanced. When metals undergo hot working, it leads to the formation of homogeneous structure in metals and defects or blowholes remain absent. All kinds of composition differences and gas pores can be removed in hot working. Compared to other methods, hot working is fast and trustworthy.
2. Advantages of cold working – Heating of metals is not required for cold work steel. Dimensional accuracy can be preserved. Hardness and strength of metals increase. Cold working provides supreme surface finish since there is no oxidation involved in the process. Strength of metal increases and the metal becomes strong against wears and tears. Hardness of metal is also increased. Due to these excellent properties, cold work tool steel is used in bending, rolling and spinning procedures. Cold working allows more precision, higher quality material and materials can be produced at a high speed.
3. Disadvantages of hot working – Tool Steel Suppliers point out a few disadvantages of hot working. Hot working is a comparatively expensive mechanism. Often, due to oxidation and less amount of carbon, the metal loses its strength. Due to oxidation, hot working metals do not achieve the impeccable surface finish like the cold working steel. This is also caused to excessively high temperatures. Because the surface of steel is worked, there is a simultaneous loss of carbon from the surface. As a result, strength is lost to a certain extent. It is a disadvantage. Dimensional accuracy is hard to achieve because metal shrinks in an uneven pattern.
4. Disadvantages of cold working – While cold work steel has a number of advantages, there is also a few disadvantages. Immense strength is essential for deformation. Hence, heavy machinery is required for the purpose. This automatically means more expense. Metals tend to turn more brittle when processed through cold working. Hardness of metal is increased to the extent where bending or reshaping becomes difficult. Tool Steel Suppliers recommend that components that have undergone cold working procedure, heat treatment becomes an absolute necessity. Materials which are either malleable or ductile can only be cold worked.

Thus, both cold working and hot working have their set of advantages and disadvantages. Despite the disadvantages, these are widely used mechanical procedures that are used in many industries.