Metalworking, the practice of producing either finished metal products or parts through the manipulation of various metals, such as iron, steel, and bronze, encompasses a range of different processes. Forging and fabrication are two of these, alongside machining. Although forging and fabrication are both commonly employed over the course of metalworking, the two manufacturing processes have significant differences. What do you need to know about the difference between forging and fabrication?
Forging is a metalworking process in which compression, more commonly referred to as “pounding”, is used to form metal into a desired shape, most often delivered by means of mechanical forces. Metals can be shaped through forging with the help of a variety of tools and equipment, such as hammers, dies, rolls, molds, and presses, at various temperatures. Cold forging involves the shaping of metals at cooler temperatures, typically up to 78 °Fahrenheit or 25.5 °Celsius (“room temperature”), while hot forging, during which metals are heated to temperatures as high as 25,00 °Fahrenheit, holds the advantage that the metal becomes more pliable and thus easier to shape. This process can both lengthen and widen any given metal.
Fabrication also serves the purpose of shaping metal, in this case, sheet metal, but with the assistance of different processes. Here, a wide variety of techniques such as welding, cutting, drilling, stamping, bending, and folding are employed to enable manufacturers to create the shape and structure that will meet their specifications. In modern industry, this is typically done with the guidance of CNC machines. The process of attaching one metal product to another also falls under the general umbrella of fabricating.
To summarize, forging depends on the pressure to shape metal into the desired form, while fabrication alters the shape of metal in a variety of mechanical ways that include cutting and puncturing it.