What Is Metal Processing?

Metal processing refers to the production activities in which humans process metal-based materials or metal-based materials with metal characteristics. The progress of human society is closely related to the processing and use of metal materials. Brass was smelted more than 6,000 years ago, and simple bronze tools could be manufactured more than 4,000 years ago. Meteorite began to be used more than 3,000 years ago Weapons: China smelted pig iron more than 1,800 years before Europe in the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,500 years ago. In the 18th century, the development of the steel industry became an important content and material basis of the industrial revolution.

metal processing

(Industrial Technology)

Metalworking

Metalworking, referred to as metalworking, is a technology that processes metal materials into articles, parts, and components, including large parts such as bridges, ships, and even subtle components such as engines, jewelry, and watches. It is widely used in science,

From 1 million years ago, primitive people used stone as a tool, called the Paleolithic Age. 10,000 years ago, humans processed stone tools into vessels and delicate tools, and entered the Neolithic Age. Archaeological excavations now prove that China has made practical pottery more than 8,000 years ago, brass has been smelted more than 6,000 years ago, simple bronze tools have been used more than 4,000 years ago, and more than 3,000 years ago Make weapons with meteorite. Our ancestors smelted pig iron in the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,500 years ago, more than 1,800 years before Europe. In the 18th century, the development of the steel industry became an important content and material basis of the industrial revolution. In the middle of the 19th century, the appearance of modern open-hearth and converter nickel tube steelmaking technology made mankind truly enter the steel age. At the same time, copper, lead, and zinc have also been used in large quantities, and metals such as aluminum, magnesium, and titanium have come out and been used. So far, metal materials have dominated the materials industry.

Metal processing refers to the production activities in which humans process metal-based materials or metal-based materials with metal characteristics. Metal processing methods and processes include:

Metal processing casting

Casting: refers to the metal is heated and melted, and then poured into the model, suitable for processing complex shaped parts.

Casting classification

Sand mold casting: low cost, small batch size, can process complex shapes, but may require a large number of post-processing steps.

Investment Casting / Lost Wax Casting: This process method has high continuity and accuracy, and can also be used to process complex shapes. It can achieve a very perfect surface effect under the premise of relatively low processing costs, which is suitable for mass production.

Injection casting method: used for machining complex shapes with high error. Due to the characteristics of the process itself, no post-processing is required after the product is shaped, however, only in the case of mass production can it show the advantage of low cost. Die casting method: The processing cost is high, and the cost is reasonable only in the case of mass production. But the cost of the final product is relatively low and the error is high. Can be used to produce thin wall parts.

Spin-casting: Ideal for small parts, usually used in jewelry manufacturing. Eraser models can be used to reduce processing costs.

Directional solidification: It can produce very strong super heat-resistant alloy with excellent anti-fatigue performance, poured into the model, and then undergoes strictly controlled heating and cooling processes to eliminate any small defects. It is labor-intensive to heat the formed metal at high temperature for remodeling.

Metal working plastic forming

Forging: It is one of the simplest and oldest metal sculpting techniques to shape metal with thrashing and extrusion under the conditions of cold working or high temperature operation.

Rolling: The high-temperature metal billet passes through several continuous cylindrical rollers, which roll the metal into the mold to obtain a preset shape.

Wire drawing: The process of drawing a metal wire into a filament using a series of wire drawing dies that gradually become smaller.

Extrusion: a low-cost process for continuous processing with the same cross-sectional shape, solid or hollow metal modeling, which can be used for high-temperature operations and cold processing.

Impact extrusion: A process used to process small to medium-sized parts without taper requirements. It is fast in production, can process various wall thickness parts, and has low processing cost.

Powder metallurgy: A process that can process both ferrous and non-ferrous metal components. Including two basic steps of mixing alloy powder and pressing the mixture into a mold. The metal particles are sintered by heating at a high temperature. This process does not require machining, and the raw material utilization rate can reach 97%. Different metal powders can be used to fill different parts of the mold.

Solid forming

Solid molding processing: refers to the use of raw materials are metal bars, sheets and other solid forms that can be shaped under normal temperature conditions. Belongs to labor-intensive production. Processing cost inputs can be relatively low.

Metal processing solid forming processing classification

Spinning: A very common processing method used to produce round symmetrical parts, such as plates, cups, and cones. During processing, the high-speed rotating metal plate is moved closer to the model on the rotating, fixed lathe to obtain the preset shape. This process is suitable for various batch production.

Bending: An economical production process for processing any form of sheet, rod, and tube materials.

Continuous molding: Feed the metal sheet between the rollers to obtain a metal shape with a continuous length and a consistent cross section. It is similar to the extrusion process, but there are restrictions on the wall thickness of the processing element, and only a single wall thickness can be obtained. Only under the premise of mass production, processing costs are most reasonable.

Stamping: The metal sheet is pressed between the male mold and the female mold and pressed to form a hollow shape. The depth can be deep or shallow.

Punching: The process of punching and cutting out a certain shape on the metal sheet with special tools can be applied to large and small batch production.

Punching: It is basically similar to the punching process, except that the former uses the punched part, while the latter uses the remaining part of the metal sheet after punching.

Shearing: Cutting a piece of metal with a shear is the same as cutting a piece of paper from the best position with a pair of scissors.

Chip forming: When cutting metal, the cutting methods with chip production are collectively called chip forming, including milling, drilling, lathe processing, and grinding and sawing.

Chip-free molding: Use existing metal bars or sheets to shape. No chips are generated. Such processes include chemical machining, etching, electrical discharge machining, sandblasting, laser cutting, water jet cutting, and thermal cutting.

Drawing

The drawing can be made into straight, random, thread, corrugated and spiral patterns according to the decoration needs.

Straight line drawing refers to the processing of straight lines by mechanical friction on the surface of aluminum plate. It has the dual functions of brushing the surface of aluminum plate and decorating the surface of aluminum plate. There are two types of straight-line drawing: continuous line and intermittent line. Continuous lines can be continuously and linearly rubbed on the surface of aluminum plate by using a clean cloth or stainless steel brush (such as manual grinding or using a planer under the condition of a reliable device). Grind the wire brush on the aluminum plate). By changing the diameter of the stainless steel wire, different thicknesses can be obtained. Intermittent silk patterns are generally processed on a brushing or wiping machine.

Preparation principle: Two sets of differential wheels rotating in the same direction are used. The upper group is a fast-rotating grinding roller and the lower group is a slow-rotating rubber roller. The aluminum or aluminum alloy plate passes through the two sets of rollers and is brushed out. Fine intermittent straight lines.

Scribble wire drawing is a kind of irregular, non-marking matte silk pattern obtained by moving the aluminum plate back and forth and rubbing under the high-speed copper wire brush. This processing has higher requirements on the surface of the aluminum or aluminum alloy plate.

The corrugation is generally made on a brushing or wiping machine. Using the axial movement of the upper group of grinding rollers, the surface of the aluminum or aluminum alloy plate is brushed to obtain a wave pattern.

Swirling is also called spinning, which is a kind of silk pattern obtained by using cylindrical felt or grinding stone nylon wheels installed on a drilling machine, blending polishing paste with kerosene, and rotating and polishing the surface of aluminum or aluminum alloy plates. It is mostly used for decorative processing of circular signs and small decorative dials.

The thread is a small motor with a circular felt on the shaft, which is fixed on the table, at an angle of about 60 degrees to the edge of the table, and a tray with a fixed aluminum plate for pressing tea is made on the tray. Adhere a straight edge polyester film to limit the thread race. Using the rotation of the felt and the linear movement of the carriage, the thread pattern with a uniform width is rotated on the surface of the aluminum plate. Characteristics of plastic plating Plastic plating has the characteristics of both plastic and metal. It has a small specific gravity, good corrosion resistance, easy molding, metal luster and metal texture, and electrical conductivity, magnetic permeability, and welding characteristics. It can save complicated mechanical processing procedures, save metal materials, and is beautiful and decorative. At the same time, it also improves the mechanical strength of plastic. Because the metal coating has high stability to external factors such as light and the atmosphere, plastics can prevent aging of the plastic and prolong the service life of plastic parts after metal plating. With the rapid development of industry and the increasingly widespread application of plastic plating, it has become one of the important means of surface decoration in plastic products. At home and abroad, plating has been widely performed on plastic surfaces such as ABS, polypropylene, polysulfone, polycarbonate, nylon, phenolic glass fiber reinforced plastics, and polystyrene. Among them, ABS plastic plating is the most widely used and has the best plating effect .