The hot forging process mainly includes the following steps:
1. Raw material preparation: Select appropriate raw materials, including metal billets and forging auxiliary materials. Metal billets are usually various metal alloys or pure metals, and different specifications and shapes can be used as needed, such as round steel, square steel, plates, pipes, etc. Forging auxiliary materials include molds, lubricating oil, cooling water, etc.
2. Heating: Put the metal billet into the heating furnace and heat it to the required temperature. The heating temperature and heating time need to be strictly controlled to avoid overheating or underheating. Generally speaking, the preheating temperature should be controlled above the recrystallization temperature of the metal material but not over its melting point.
3. Forging: The heated metal billet is placed in a forging press or hammer and other equipment for deformation processing such as pressing, stretching, bending, etc., so as to change its internal structure and physical properties and finally obtain a metal product of the desired shape and size. This process may require multiple forgings to achieve the desired shape and size.
Specifically, forging can be divided into free forging and special-shaped forging. Free forging is to place the metal billet on the surface of the forging die, hammer, press, and process it by manual or mechanical pressure to obtain the desired shape. Special-shaped forging means using a forging die to plastically deform the metal billet to achieve the desired shape and size. This step can eliminate stress, improve the strength and hardness of metal products, and also help improve their appearance, quality, and precision.
4. Cooling: Cool the forged metal material to achieve the required hardness and strength. Cooling treatment is usually divided into two types: natural cooling and artificial cooling.
5. Cleaning: Mainly remove the surface oxide scale.
6. Inspection: Generally, forgings must undergo appearance and hardness inspections, and important forgings must also undergo chemical composition analysis, mechanical properties, residual stress, and other inspections and non-destructive testing.
Since the hot forging process can make the product deformation reach its best state, the hot forging process is necessary in the manufacturing process of electric power fitting products. It should be noted that the hot forging process may vary depending on the specific product and process requirements, and the above steps are only a general description. In actual operation, it should be adjusted and optimized according to the specific situation.