Technology

The processing method by cold plastic deformation appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the advent of manufacturing industry, as a need for more efficient use of raw materials, but especially as a necessity to increase the productivity.

The technological process of cold plastic deformation is performed at temperatures lower than the re-crystallization temperature of the material used and the most popular processing methods are stamping and molding.

The production processes of cold stamping and molding are characterized by the following features:
-the execution method of the operations, namely metals processing by cold pressing;
-the type of the equipment used: automatic presses and machines that create and apply the necessary force for the deformation of the material being processed;
-the type of tools that are used: dies and molds of various types, directly participating to material deformation and the execution of cold stamping and molding operations;
-the type of the material used, which is usually represented by rolled strips or strips of metallic or non-metallic materials;

Compared to other metalworking operations, cold stamping and molding bring a series of both technical and economic advantages.

From a technical point of view:
it is possible the execution of complex operations through the application of some simple molding strikes, obtaining parts with complex shape, a form that is very difficult to achieve by other methods of processing;

- obtaining interchangeable parts with a degree of dimensional accuracy which is high enough, often without the need for further processing;
- making rigid, yet lightweight parts, with low consumption of material.

From an economic perspective, stamping has the following advantages:
Rational use of raw material and substantial reduction of the waste generated;
- The use of equipment with a high level of automation and a high degree of productivity;
- Greater simplicity in handling the equipment, no need for workers with high qualifications;
- Low costs for the parts produced, as it is a mass production;

The main types of stamping deformation and cold forming are
-cutting, namely the separation of material on an open or closed contour;
-bending, namely getting an irregularly shaped piece, using a flat semi-finished product;
-cupping, that is getting a hollowed piece, using a flat semi-finished product;
-compression molding, that is changing the profile or the thickness of the material, by a volume distribution or by a displacement of the material masses.

Cold stamping and molding, by the successive execution of several separate operations is not an efficient activity from the economic perspective. Therefore, in most cases, the method of combined stamping or molding is applied, which is the simultaneous execution of two or more independent operations, the so-called progressive stamping. In this type of stamping, there can be embedded stamping procedures such as cutting, bending and trimming and even operations such as threading or compression molding.