Forging--metal shaping by plastic deformation--spans a myriad of equipment and techniques. Knowing the various forging operations and the characteristic metal flow each produces is key to understanding forging design.
Hammer and Press Forging
Generally, forged components are shaped either by a hammer or press. Forging on the hammer is carried out in a succession of die impressions using repeated blows. The quality of the forging, and the economy and productivity of the hammer process depend upon the tooling and the skill of the operator. The advent of programmable hammers has resulted on less operator dependency and improved process consistency. In a press, the stock is usually hit only once in each die impression, and the design of each impression becomes more important while operator skill is less critical.