forming

Physical metallurgy is the science of creating useful products from metals. This involves various metalworking processes designed to shape metals into desired forms, enhancing their properties through techniques like alloying and heat treatment. The choice of method often depends on the final product's shape, required properties, and cost-effectiveness.123

Key metalworking processes include:

• Rolling: Pulling metal between rotating rolls to reduce its thickness and increase its length.4
• Extrusion: Pushing metal through a die to create a specific cross-sectional shape.1
• Drawing: Pulling metal through a die, commonly used for wire or deep drawing to form cups.1
• Forging: Shaping metal by applying force with dies, often done hot to increase plasticity.25
• Sheet-metal forming: Shaping thin metal sheets through processes like stretch forming, bending, or shearing.36

These processes can be performed hot (above the metal's recrystallization temperature) or cold (below it), with hot working allowing for greater deformation and cold working hardening the metal.14