Casting is the process where metal is heated until molten. While in the molten or liquid state it is poured into a mold or vessel to create a desired shape.
Forging is the application of thermal and mechanical energy to steel billets or ingots to cause the material to change shape while in a solid state.
Why use castings?
The advantages of casting include:
- No real upper size limit in casting weight
- Large range of alloy choices
- As forgings remain solid, custom alloys are far more difficult to get into production whereas with casting, alloys including Chrome, Nickel and Moly can be added at the molten stage.
- Tooling is often less expensive than forge dies
- Smaller production “runs” required
- Complicated/complex parts are no problem
Why use forgings?
The advantages of forging include:
- Generally tougher than alternatives
- Will handle impact better than castings
- The nature of forging excludes the occurence of porosity, shrinkage, cavities and cold pour issues.
- The tight grain structure of forgings making it mechanically strong. There is less need for expensive alloys to attain high strength components.
- The tight grain structure offers great wear resistance without the need to make products “superhard” We have found that, on a blank HRC 38-42 forged grinder insert wear/wash is about the same as a high alloy HRC 46-50 cast grinder insert. The difference being a HRC 46-50 casting does not have the ductility to handle high impact grinding.
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