News | Case | Contact us Welcome to BEBON INTERNATIONAL
You are here: bebon steel > Industry news > ViewsDo You Know Cold Working?

Do You Know Cold Working?

 Cold working is also known as work hardening. Cold working refers to the process of strengthening a metal by plastic deformation with a permanent change in the metal's crystalline structure.  

Cold working gets its name because it is conducted at temperatures below the metal's recrystallization point and mechanical stress, not heat, is used to affect change. The technique is most commonly applied to steel, aluminum and copper.
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.
All in all, it can improve the metal’s surface finish, tensile strength and hardness, but weaken the metal’s ductility by cold working.

Hot product