What are the most common metal fabrication processes?
In the current era of industrialization and modernization, more and more products are created from metal processing in the mechanical industry, particularly in daily life. However, to create quality products, it is necessary to go through a meticulous processing process through many different stages. Let’s find out the most popular metal fabrication processes with RX Tradex through the article below!
Learn about today’s most common metal fabrication processes.
What is metal fabrication?
Metal fabrication is a manufacturing process that shapes a metal into parts or final products through metalworking processes including cutting, stamping, forming, folding, welding,… and incorporating electrical or electronic devices into microprocessors, circuit boards and subassemblies for navigation components or control computers.
What does metal fabrication mean?
The metal forming process helps to form machinery equipment or mechanical products according to production requirements. Since then, it has been widely applied in many different fields, serving industrial production and human life. Without metal forming, there would be no tools, machinery, and production materials,… which would influence the development of related industries. Therefore, the metal fabrication process plays an important role in the economy and production.
7 common metal fabrication processes that businesses need to learn.
The metal fabrication process consists of 3 main methods: Collapsing, shaping and joining materials together. Each method has different specific processes, including: Cutting, casting, pressure machining and welding,… Currently, there are common metal fabrication processes as follows:
Metal cutting process.
Sheet metal cutting is the process of removing excess materials from the surface of the sheet metal to create a part with the desired shape and size. There are 4 main methods for metal cutting:
· Traditional metal cutting methods.
· The method of cutting metal with oxygen on a plasma cutter.
· Sheet metal cutting method by CNC laser machine.
· Waterjet cutting method.
Common professions and applications of the cutting process:
The cutting process is applied in many fields such as: Machine building, automobile manufacturing, construction furniture, design and production of household products, electronic components, shipbuilding technology, medical and military equipment and supplies,… In addition, products applying the cutting process include: Nonwoven machines, sewing machines, telephones, TVs, audiovisual equipment, electronics, telecommunication equipment, interior decoration frames, billboards, doors, cabinets, motorcycle/auto spare parts,…
Metal milling process.
According to the report, the milling process accounts for about 40%-60% of the processing stages infactories. [1] Metal milling is a method used in precision mechanical machining to cut large samples of workpieces into parts as required. The operation phase is based on a combination of translational movement of the jig and tool. The formation and development of this process has brought many benefits to the machine building industry. Common milling machining methods include:
· Forward milling method.
· Inverse milling method.
Common professions and applications of the milling process:
The milling process is commonly used in industries such as furniture processing, processing and manufacturing household appliances, and many other manufacturing sectors. It is employed for carving patterns, forming complex metal molds, equipment for making spare parts and machine parts,…
Metal turning process.
The turning process helps to create beautiful turning lines with high accuracy, meeting the needs of users. Turning involves cutting billet metal through the combined movement of a workpiece moving jig and turning tool. The movements can be circular or translational, depending on the type of machinery used for the process. Turning processing methods include:
· Lathe machining method.
· Rough turning machining method.
· Processing method of turning cylinders inside and outside.
· Processing method of outer and inner thread lathes.
· Hole turning machining method.
· Cutting off lathe machining method.
· Method of processing naked head lathes.
Common professions and applications of the turning process:
This process is widely used in industries such as Mechanics, aerospace, marine, shipbuilding, medical,… Some products are manufactured with a turning process including: Making automobile/ship parts, machine parts, aircraft engines, turbines, rotating/cylindrical and triangular patterns,…
Process of bending (folding) metal.
The bending process involves deforming, folding corners or bending the edges of metal sheets. The goal is to fold the metal surface at a 90-degree angle or an arbitrary angle based on its intended use. Common bending machining methods include:
V-bending.
Bend.
Edge bending.
Common professions and applications of the bending process:
The process is widely used in industries such as machine building, aviation and automotive technology, civil equipment, electronics, telecommunications, manufacturing technology and aerospace,… In addition, some products are manufactured with bending processes such as: stainless steel tables and chairs, stainless steel cabinets, electrical cabinets, kitchen appliances or wall frames, electronic machinery, frames for cars / elevators / boats or windows ,…
Metal welding process.
Metal welding is the process of joining parts together with permanent welds to form a finished product after metalworking stages such as cutting, bending or stamping. This method applies heat and pressure to the joint to form a strong bond between the metal plates. There are 3 welding processing methods:
· Mig-Mag welding/gas metal welding (GMAW) welding method.
· Tig/Gas Tungsten Welding (GTAW) Welding Method.
· Rod welding method or arc welding.
Common professions and applications of the welding process:
Welding is applied in a variety of industries, including: electrical industry, construction works, automobile manufacturing industry, military weapons manufacturing, shipbuilding, aviation, space industry,… Products manufactured with welding processes include Connecting circuit boards, shaft beams, blades, gears, landing gears, shafts, sockets, valves, steering wheels, couplings, hooks,…
Punching process, metal stamping.
This is a method of using pestles and molds to turn flat metal sheets into a specific shape or pattern. The quality of the product will be determined by the stamping mold. Each different product needs different types of stamping dies such as: Simple stamping molds, combinatorial molds, continuous punching molds. The punching and stamping processes include:
· Hot stamping method.
· Cold stamping method.
Common trades and applications of punching and stamping processes:
The stamping process is applied in industries such as: Equipment manufacturing, construction, power generation, hardware, fasteners,… Besides, products applying punching and stamping processes include: aircraft components, electronic equipment, engines, lighting, telecommunication products,…
Metal casting process.
The metal casting method involves heating the metal to a liquid flowing state and then pouring it into the mold lumen. After solidifying in the mold, a part with a shape similar to the mold will be obtained. 4 casting processing methods are widely applied:
· Cast in sand molds.
· Casting in gravity (casting in metal molds).
· Centrifugal casting.
· Low pressure casting.
Common professions and applications of the punching molding process:
Casting is widely applied in many industries, including: Alternative energy, automotive, construction, culinary, defense & military, healthcare, mining industry,… Products manufactured by the molding process include: equipment, camera bodies, housings, motors, valves, wheels or diffusers,…
Summary
Depending on the specific industry needs, different metalworking solutions are needed. Through the above article, the business has an overview of the most popular metal manufacturing processes today. However, to ensure the parts and products that need to be processed and produced with high precision, durability and good quality, it is necessary to apply modern technologies.
Therefore, enterprises can participate in leading international exhibitions on mechanical engineering as METALEX Vietnam 2023, organized by RX Tradex. Thereby, enterprises would grasp the latest technologies applied to the production processing process to help increase efficiency, improve the quality of products. In addition, in 2023, RX Tradex also organizes leading international exhibitions such as Vietnam Manufacturing Expo, Waste and Recycling Vietnam and NEPCON Vietnam, promising to be ideal destinations for businesses to connect, trade or find strategic partners and potential customers.
