What is the difference between forging and casting?

Release time：

2024-06-14

Forging: Using methods such as hammers to make metal materials in a formable state into workpieces of a certain shape and size.

1、 The difference between forging and casting
1) Different wording:
Forging: Using methods such as hammers to shape and size workpieces from formable metal materials, altering their physical properties.
Casting: The processing method of melting metal into a liquid, injecting it into a mold, cooling and solidifying it, cleaning it, and obtaining the desired shape of the casting. Capable of manufacturing objects with complex shapes.
2) Different manufacturing processes:
Forging: It is a processing method that uses forging machinery to apply pressure to metal billets, causing them to undergo plastic deformation and obtain forgings with certain mechanical properties, shapes, and sizes. It is one of the two main components of forging (forging and stamping).
Casting: The method of casting liquid metal into a casting cavity suitable for the shape of the part, and obtaining the part or blank after cooling and solidification.
2、 Forging and casting purposes
Forging is generally used to process forgings of a certain shape and size.
Casting is a relatively economical method of forming blanks, generally used for parts with complex shapes.
3、 Advantages and disadvantages of forging and casting
Advantages of forging:
Due to the elimination of defects such as cast like pores during the smelting process, optimization of the microstructure, and preservation of complete metal flow lines by forging, the mechanical properties of forgings are generally superior to those of castings made of the same material. For important components with high loads and harsh working conditions in related machinery, forgings are often used in addition to rolled plates, profiles, or welded parts with relatively simple shapes.
Casting advantages:
1. Can produce parts with complex shapes, especially blanks with complex internal cavities;
2. Wide adaptability, commonly used metal materials in industry can be cast, ranging from a few grams to hundreds of tons;
3. The source of raw materials is extensive and the price is low. For example, scrap steel, waste materials, chips, etc;
4. The shape and size of the casting are very close to the part, reducing cutting amount and no cutting processing;
5. Widely used, 40%~70% of the weight in agricultural machinery and 70%~80% of the weight in machine tools are castings.
Disadvantages of forging:
External injury accidents that are prone to occur in forging production.
Casting disadvantages:
1. Mechanical properties are inferior to forgings. For example, coarse organization and numerous defects;
2. Sand casting involves single piece and small-scale production, resulting in high labor intensity for workers;
3. The quality of castings is unstable, with multiple processes and complex influencing factors, which can easily lead to many defects.