Metal fabrication is the creation of metal parts, machinery, or components through forming, cutting, and other like processes.
Common fabrication techniques include cnc machining, Swiss screw turning, cnc lathing, milling, broaching, grinding, honing, injection molding, stamping, extrusion, plasma cutting, waterjet cutting, welding, soldering, and more. though many metal fabrication shops offer a variety of specialties that may be well-suited to your specific needs. A vital process for virtually all manufacturers, metal fabrication ranges from industries such as automotive and electrical to food and beverage. Over the years, the use of popular raw materials has resulted in the standardization of many fabrication parts and components.
In order to produce items with the right materials, you need to understand and use which materials are available and appropriate for your unique application a whole host of raw materials from numerous standard raw materials. This article has been created to spotlight five of the most popular raw materials that are used in manufacturing. Read on now in order to learn all about it.
1. Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is one of the most common raw materials needed to have a successful manufacturing process. It has a high level of strength and is very unlikely to corrode. Stainless steel can meet the requirements of mechanical equipment in a variety of environments, widely used in food processing equipment, medical devices, industrial equipment, aerospace and automotive manufacturing and other fields play an important role.
The most commonly used is stainless steel 303/304/316.
2. Aluminum
Metallic aluminum has many properties that make it useful in a wide range of applications. It is lightweight, strong, nonmagnetic, and nontoxic. It conducts heat and electricity and reflects heat and light. It is strong but easily workable, and it retains its strength under extreme cold without becoming brittle. The surface of aluminum quickly oxidizes to form an invisible barrier to corrosion. Furthermore, aluminum can easily and economically be recycled into new products.
With good mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, and is widely used in aerospace, automotive manufacturing, electronics and other fields.
The most commonly used is Aluminum 6061, Aluminum 6082, Aluminum 7075.
3. Steel
The primary raw material used to manufacture steel is iron. All steel alloys are primarily iron and 0.002–2.1 % carbon by weight.
Although all steel is made of iron and carbon, different types of steel contain different compositions of each element. Steel can include other elements like nickel, molybdenum, manganese, titanium, boron, cobalt, or vanadium.
There are four main categories of steel used in various applications:
Carbon steel – Made of iron and carbon, it is the most produced steel in the world. Carbon steel is classified into three subcategories – low carbon steel (0.03-0.15% carbon), medium carbon steel (0.25%-0.50% carbon), and high carbon steel (0.55%-1.10% carbon). The more the percentage of carbon, the harder it is to bend and weld.
Tool steel – This steel features a mix of carbon, tungsten, chromium, vanadium, and molybdenum. Tool steel is known for its hardness and resistance to wear and tear making it perfectly suited for use in machining and tool making.
Stainless steel – Stainless steel is an alloy of iron with chromium, nickel, and molybdenum. This is the most widely known steel alloy that is commonly used in food handling, food processing, medical instruments, hardware, and appliances as it has high corrosion resistance.
Alloy steel – Alloy steel is produced by mixing metal and non-metal elements with carbon steel. These alloys highlight different environmental, chemical and physical properties according to the elements mixed to make the alloy.
4. Brass
Brass has the advantages of high strength, hardness, chemical corrosion resistance, easy to process, and has excellent electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, ductility, deep drawing, often used in the manufacture of valves, water pipes, air conditioning inside and outside the machine connecting pipes and radiators, a variety of complex shapes of stamping products, small hardware, machinery and electrical appliances, stamping parts and musical instrument parts and so on. There are many types of brass, and its corrosion resistance decreases with the increase of zinc content. Just be aware of the zinc and tin that can be found in the material, making it unsuitable for certain uses, such as in vacuum applications. Like its stainless steel counterpart, it is also able to withstand corrosion.
5. Plastic
Plastic raw materials are mainly composed of polymer compounds known as resin matrix, through the infiltration of a variety of auxiliary materials or certain additives with a specific purpose, at a specific temperature, pressure, plasticity and fluidity, can be molded into a certain shape, and under certain conditions to maintain the shape of the material unchanged.
Compared with metal, the thermal conductivity of plastic is poor, coefficient of thermal expansion, low modulus of elasticity, when the fixture or tool pressure is too large, it is easy to cause deformation, easy to melt by heat when cutting, and easy to adhere to the tool. Plastic machining, the tool used and the corresponding cutting speed need special attention. In addition, the means of processing plastics can also be used laser truncation, punching and welding of these common methods. But no matter what kind of machining methods, special attention should be paid to the conditions of processing, because the need to prevent the plastic deformation in the process, to avoid affecting the later use.
The most commonly used is Nylon, ABS, POM, PEEK.
Lisa Lin
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