We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Manufacturing

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What is Cold Working?

By John Markley
Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 47,887
Share

Cold working is a type of metalworking done by subjecting metal to enough mechanical stress to cause plastic deformation, a permanent change in the metal's crystalline structure. It gets its name because it is done at temperatures below the metal's recrystallization point and alters the metal's structure through mechanical stress rather than heat. The technique increases a metal's strength and hardness while reducing its ductility. A number of different processes are used in the modern metalworking industry that are applied to materials such as steel, aluminum, and copper.

This type of metalworking strengthens the material through a process called work hardening or strain hardening. When the mechanical stress on a metal becomes high enough, it causes permanent crystallographic defects, called dislocations, in the crystalline structure of the metal's atoms. As the number of dislocations increases, it becomes more difficult for new ones to form or for the existing defects to move through the crystal structure, making the metal become more resistant to further deformation. This increases its yield strength and allows it to withstand greater stress, but it also means that the metal becomes less ductile and that, if the metal is subjected to too much stress, it will fracture rather than bend.

Cold working is often more cost effective than working metal through heat treatment, especially for large-volume production, because it produces comparable improvements in strength while using materials more efficiently and requiring less finishing. The high initial capital cost of this process, however, makes it less cost effective than heat treatment at smaller scales. The lower ductility of cold-worked metal also makes it inferior in some applications. Its higher resistance to deformation makes it less able to give way to forces the metal is not strong enough to resist, and so if the metal is subjected to too much stress, it can fracture rather than bend. Some metal production uses both methods at different points in the production process to impart the desired qualities in the metal.

There are a number of different methods that can be used for cold working. The most common type is cold rolling, in which the metal being worked is squeezed through narrow gaps between rotating metal rolls. The movement of the rolls compresses the material, causing deformation as moves it through the gap. Another method is cold forging, in which metal is shaped by forcing it into a die with a press or hammer.

Share
About Mechanics is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
By bythewell — On Aug 11, 2011

@KoiwiGal - You can make all kinds of things with sheets of metal, particularly very thin sheets which can be quite malleable. Although, of course, you have to bear in mind that they will continue to be malleable after you've finished crafting them.

I also use some cold working techniques, although I make decorative objects like picture frames and so forth. I also do use a bit of welding as well as the cold metal processes. I find that there are some things I can't do properly without welding, although that's just my way of doing my craft.

By KoiwiGal — On Aug 11, 2011

There are people who make jewelry using cold metal working. My aunt does it. She doesn't like working with hot metal, so she mostly makes her jewelry using cold metal techniques.

It's actually pretty simple, some of the things she does, and I think it often resembles wood working, although metal is obviously more bendy.

She just saws and drills sheets of metal, fastens them together, or cuts them apart, and files them into shape. She might cut out designs, or use a kind of stamp to imprint them.

It doesn't sound very elegant, but she makes some lovely stuff. It kind of has an industrial edge to it, which I like a lot.

Share
https://www.aboutmechanics.com/what-is-cold-working.htm
Copy this link
About Mechanics, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

About Mechanics, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.