Forge welding (FOW), also called fire welding, is a solid-state welding process[1] that joins two pieces of metal by heating them to a high temperature and then hammering them together.[2] It may also consist of heating and forcing the metals together with presses or other means, creating enough pressure to cause plastic deformation at the weld surfaces.[3] The process, although challenging, has been a method of joining metals used since ancient times and is a staple of traditional blacksmithing.[4] Forge welding is versatile, being able to join a host of similar and dissimilar metals. With the invention of electrical welding and gas welding methods during the Industrial Revolution, manual forge-welding has been largely replaced, although automated forge-welding is a common manufacturing process.
Forge welding is a process of joining metals by heating them beyond a certain threshold and forcing them together with enough pressure to cause deformation of the weld surfaces, creating a metallic bond between the atoms of the metals. The pressure required varies, depending on the temperature, strength, and hardness of the alloy.[5] Forge welding is the oldest welding technique, and has been used since ancient times.
Welding processes can generally be grouped into two categories: fusion and diffusion welding. Fusion welding involves localized melting of the metals at the weld interfaces, and is common in electric or gas welding techniques. This requires temperatures much higher than the melting point of the metal in order to cause localized melting before the heat can thermally conduct away from the weld, and often a filler metal is used to keep the weld from segregating due to the high surface tension. Diffusion welding consists of joining the metals without melting them, welding the surfaces together while in the solid state.[6]
In diffusion welding, the heat source is often lower than the melting point of the metal, allowing more even heat-distribution thus reducing thermal stresses at the weld. In this method a filler metal is typically not used, but the weld occurs directly between the metals at the weld interface. This includes methods such as cold welding, explosion welding, and forge welding. Unlike other diffusion methods, in forge welding the metals are heated to a high temperature before forcing them together, usually resulting in greater plasticity at the weld surfaces. This generally makes forge welding more versatile than cold-diffusion techniques, which are usually performed on soft metals like copper or aluminum.[7]
In forge welding, the entire welding areas are heated evenly. Forge welding can be used for a much wider range of harder metals and alloys, like steel and titanium.[8]
The history of joining metals goes back to the Bronze Age, where bronzes of different hardness were often joined by casting-in. This method consisted of placing a solid part into a molten metal contained in a mold and allowing it to solidify without actually melting both metals, such as the blade of a sword into a handle or the tang of an arrowhead into the tip. Brazing and soldering were also common during the Bronze Age.[9]
The act of welding (joining two solid parts through diffusion) began with iron. The first welding process was forge welding, which started when humans learned to smelt iron from iron ore; most likely in Anatolia (Turkey) around 1800 BC. Ancient people could not create temperatures high enough to melt iron fully, so the bloomery process that was used for smelting iron produced a lump (bloom) of iron grains sintered together with small amounts of slag and other impurities, referred to as sponge iron because of its porosity.
After smelting, the sponge iron needed to be heated above the welding temperature and hammered, or "wrought." This squeezed out air pockets and melted slag, bringing the iron grains into close contact to form a solid block (billet).
Many items made of wrought iron have been found by archeologists, that show evidence of forge welding, which date from before 1000 BC. Because iron was typically made in small amounts, any large object, such as the Delhi Pillar, needed to be forge welded out of smaller billets.[10][11]
Forge welding grew from a trial-and-error method, becoming more refined over the centuries.[12] Due to the poor quality of ancient metals, it was commonly employed in making composite steels, by joining high-carbon steels, that would resist deformation but break easily, with low-carbon steels, which resist fracture but bend too easily, creating an object with greater toughness and strength than could be produced with a single alloy. This method of pattern welding first appeared around 700 BC, and was primarily used for making weapons such as swords; the most widely known examples being Damascene, Japanese and Merovingian.[13][14] This process was also common in the manufacture of tools, from wrought-iron plows with steel edges to iron chisels with steel cutting surfaces.[13]
Materials
Many metals can be forge welded, with the most common being both high and low-carbon steels. Iron and even some hypoeutecticcast-irons can be forge welded. Some aluminum alloys can also be forge welded.[15] Metals such as copper, bronze and brass do not forge weld readily. Although it is possible to forge weld copper-based alloys, it is often with great difficulty due to copper's tendency to absorb oxygen during the heating.[16] Copper and its alloys are usually better joined with cold welding, explosion welding, or other pressure-welding techniques. With iron or steel, the presence of even small amounts of copper severely reduces the alloy's ability to forge weld.[17][18]
Titanium alloys are commonly forge welded. Because of titanium's tendency to absorb oxygen when molten, the solid-state, diffusion bond of a forge weld is often stronger than a fusion weld in which the metal is liquefied.[19]
Forge welding between similar materials is caused by solid-state diffusion. This results in a weld that consists of only the welded materials without any fillers or bridging materials. Forge welding between dissimilar materials is caused by the formation of a lower melting temperature eutectic between the materials. Due to this the weld is often stronger than the individual metals.
The most well-known and oldest forge-welding process is the manual-hammering method. Manual hammering is done by heating the metal to the proper temperature, coating with flux, overlapping the weld surfaces, and then striking the joint repeatedly with a hand-held hammer. The joint is often formed to allow space for the flux to flow out, by beveling or rounding the surfaces slightly, and hammered in a successively outward fashion to squeeze the flux out. The hammer blows are typically not as hard as those used for shaping, preventing the flux from being blasted out of the joint at the first blow.
When mechanical hammers were developed, forge welding could be accomplished by heating the metal, and then placing it between the mechanized hammer and the anvil. Originally powered by waterwheels, modern mechanical-hammers can also be operated by compressed air, electricity, steam, gas engines, and many other ways. Another method is forge welding with a die, whereby the pieces of metal are heated and then forced into a die which both provides the pressure for the weld and keeps the joint at the finished shape. Roll welding is another forge welding process, where the heated metals are overlapped and passed through rollers at high pressures to create the weld.[20][21]
Modern forge-welding is often automated, using computers, machines, and sophisticated hydraulic presses to produce a variety of products from a number of various alloys.[22] For example, steel pipe is often forge-welded during the manufacturing process. Flat stock is heated and fed through specially-shaped rollers that both form the steel into a tube and simultaneously provide the pressure to weld the edges into a continuous seam.[23]
Diffusion bonding is a common method for forge welding titanium alloys in the aerospace industry. In this process the metal is heated while in a press or die. Beyond a specific critical-temperature, which varies depending on the alloy, the impurities burn out and the surfaces are forced together.[24]
Other methods include flash welding and percussion welding. These are resistance forge-welding techniques where the press or die is electrified, passing high current through the alloy to create the heat for the weld.[25] Shielded active-gas forge-welding is a process of forge welding in an oxygen-reactive environment, to burn out oxides, using hydrogen gas and induction heating.[26]
Temperature
Iron, different steels, and even cast-iron can be welded to each other, provided that their carbon content is close enough that the welding ranges overlap. Pure iron can be welded when nearly white hot; between 2,500°F (1,400°C) and 2,700°F (1,500°C). Steel with a carbon content of 2.0% can be welded when orangish-yellow, between 1,700°F (900°C) and 2,000°F (1,100°C). Common steel, between 0.2 and 0.8% carbon, is typically welded at a bright yellow heat.[27]
A primary requirement for forge welding is that both weld surfaces need to be heated to the same temperature and welded before they cool too much. When steel reaches the proper temperature, it begins to weld very readily, so a thin rod or nail heated to the same temperature will tend to stick at first contact, requiring it to be bent or twisted loose.
Care must be taken to avoid overheating the metal to the point that it gives off sparks from rapid oxidation (burning), or else the weld will be poor and brittle.[28]
Decarburization
When steel is heated to an austenizing temperature, the carbon begins to diffuse through the iron. The higher the temperature; the greater the rate of diffusion. At such high temperatures, carbon readily combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, so the carbon can easily diffuse out of the steel and into the surrounding air. By the end of a blacksmithing job, the steel will be of a lower carbon content than it was prior to heating. Therefore, most blacksmithing operations are done as quickly as possible to reduce decarburization, preventing the steel from becoming too soft.
To produce the right amount of hardness in the finished product, the smith generally begins with steel that has a carbon content that is higher than desired. In ancient times, forging often began with steel that had a carbon content much too high for normal use. Most ancient forge-welding began with hypereutectoid steel, containing a carbon content sometimes well above 1.0%. Hypereutectoid steels are typically too brittle to be useful in a finished product, but by the end of forging the steel typically had a high carbon-content ranging from 0.8% (eutectoid tool-steel) to 0.5% (hypoeutectoid spring-steel).[29]
Applications
Forge welding has been used throughout its history for making most any items out of steel and iron. It has been used in everything from the manufacture of tools, farming implements, and cookware to the manufacture of fences, gates, and prison cells. In the early Industrial Revolution, it was commonly used in the manufacture of boilers and pressure vessels, until the introduction of fusion-welding. It was commonly used through the Middle Ages for producing armor and weapons.
One of the most famous applications of forge welding involves the production of pattern-welded blades. During this process a smith repeatedly draws out a billet of steel, folds it back and welds it upon itself.[30] Another application was the manufacture of shotgun barrels. Metal wire was spooled onto a mandrel, and then forged into a barrel that was thin, uniform, and strong. In some cases the forge-welded objects are acid-etched to expose the underlying pattern of metal, which is unique to each item and provides aesthetic appeal.
Despite its diversity, forge welding had many limitations. A primary limitation was the size of objects that could be forge welded. Larger objects required a bigger heat source, and size reduced the ability to manually weld it together before it cooled too much. Welding large items like steel plate or girders was typically not possible, or at least highly impractical, until the invention of fusion welding, requiring them to be riveted instead. In some cases, fusion welding produced a much stronger weld, such as in the construction of boilers.
Flux
Forge welding requires the weld surfaces to be extremely clean or the metal will not join properly, if at all. Oxides tend to form on the surface while impurities like phosphorus and sulfur tend to migrate to the surface. Often a flux is used to keep the welding surfaces from oxidizing, which would produce a poor quality weld, and to extract other impurities from the metal. The flux mixes with the oxides that form and lowers the melting temperature and the viscosity of the oxides. This enables the oxides to flow out of the joint when the two pieces are beaten together. A simple flux can be made from borax, sometimes with the addition of powdered iron-filings.[31]
The oldest flux used for forge welding was fine silica sand. The iron or steel would be heated in a reducing environment within the coals of the forge. Devoid of oxygen, the metal forms a layer of iron-oxide called wustite on its surface. When the metal is hot enough, but below the welding temperature, the smith sprinkles some sand onto the metal. The silicon in the sand reacts with the wustite to form fayalite, which melts just below the welding temperature. This produced a very effective flux which helped to make a strong weld.[32]
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, opacity, and luster, but may have properties that differ from those of the pure metals, such as increased strength or hardness. In some cases, an alloy may reduce the overall cost of the material while preserving important properties. In other cases, the mixture imparts synergistic properties to the constituent metal elements such as corrosion resistance or mechanical strength.
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the science and the technology of metals; that is, the way in which science is applied to the production of metals, and the engineering of metal components used in products for both consumers and manufacturers. Metallurgy is distinct from the craft of metalworking. Metalworking relies on metallurgy in a similar manner to how medicine relies on medical science for technical advancement. A specialist practitioner of metallurgy is known as a metallurgist.
A soldering iron is a hand tool used in soldering. It supplies heat to melt solder so that it can flow into the joint between two workpieces.
Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as brazing and soldering, which do not melt the base metal.
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content in contrast to that of cast iron. It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions, which give it a wood-like "grain" that is visible when it is etched, rusted, or bent to failure. Wrought iron is tough, malleable, ductile, corrosion resistant, and easily forge welded, but is more difficult to weld electrically.
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut. Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. There was an historical distinction between the heavy work of the blacksmith and the more delicate operation of a whitesmith, who usually worked in gold, silver, pewter, or the finishing steps of fine steel. The place where a blacksmith works is called variously a smithy, a forge or a blacksmith's shop.
Heat treating is a group of industrial, thermal and metalworking processes used to alter the physical, and sometimes chemical, properties of a material. The most common application is metallurgical. Heat treatments are also used in the manufacture of many other materials, such as glass. Heat treatment involves the use of heating or chilling, normally to extreme temperatures, to achieve the desired result such as hardening or softening of a material. Heat treatment techniques include annealing, case hardening, precipitation strengthening, tempering, carburizing, normalizing and quenching. Although the term heat treatment applies only to processes where the heating and cooling are done for the specific purpose of altering properties intentionally, heating and cooling often occur incidentally during other manufacturing processes such as hot forming or welding.
Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal.
Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron, iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. In ancient times steel and iron were impossible to melt using charcoal or coal fires, which could not produce temperatures high enough. However, pig iron, having a higher carbon content and thus a lower melting point, could be melted, and by soaking wrought iron or steel in the liquid pig-iron for a long time, the carbon content of the pig iron could be reduced as it slowly diffused into the iron, turning both into steel. Crucible steel of this type was produced in South and Central Asia during the medieval era. This generally produced a very hard steel, but also a composite steel that was inhomogeneous, consisting of a very high-carbon steel and a lower-carbon steel. This often resulted in an intricate pattern when the steel was forged, filed or polished, with possibly the most well-known examples coming from the wootz steel used in Damascus swords. The steel was often much higher in carbon content and in quality in comparison with other methods of steel production of the time because of the use of fluxes. The steel was usually worked very little and at relatively low temperatures to avoid any decarburization, hot short crumbling, or excess diffusion of carbon; just enough hammering to form the shape of a sword. With a carbon content close to that of cast iron, it usually required no heat treatment after shaping other than air cooling to achieve the correct hardness, relying on composition alone. The higher-carbon steel provided a very hard edge, but the lower-carbon steel helped to increase the toughness, helping to decrease the chance of chipping, cracking, or breaking.
In metallurgy, a flux is a chemical cleaning agent, flowing agent, or purifying agent. Fluxes may have more than one function at a time. They are used in both extractive metallurgy and metal joining.
Induction heating is the process of heating electrically conductive materials, namely metals or semi-conductors, by electromagnetic induction, through heat transfer passing through an induction coil that creates an electromagnetic field within the coil to heat up and possibly melt steel, copper, brass, graphite, gold, silver, aluminum, or carbide.
Case-hardening or surface hardening is the process of hardening the surface of a metal object while allowing the metal deeper underneath to remain soft, thus forming a thin layer of harder metal at the surface. For iron or steel with low carbon content, which has poor to no hardenability of its own, the case-hardening process involves infusing additional carbon or nitrogen into the surface layer. Case-hardening is usually done after the part has been formed into its final shape, but can also be done to increase the hardening element content of bars to be used in a pattern welding or similar process. The term face hardening is also used to describe this technique, when discussing modern armour.
Tempering is a process of heat treating, which is used to increase the toughness of iron-based alloys. Tempering is usually performed after hardening, to reduce some of the excess hardness, and is done by heating the metal to some temperature below the critical point for a certain period of time, then allowing it to cool in still air. The exact temperature determines the amount of hardness removed, and depends on both the specific composition of the alloy and on the desired properties in the finished product. For instance, very hard tools are often tempered at low temperatures, while springs are tempered at much higher temperatures.
A filler metal is a metal added in the making of a joint through welding, brazing, or soldering.
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron. However, other metals, such as bronze, brass, steel, magnesium, and zinc, are also used to produce castings in foundries. In this process, parts of desired shapes and sizes can be formed.
In materials science, intergranular corrosion (IGC), also known as intergranular attack (IGA), is a form of corrosion where the boundaries of crystallites of the material are more susceptible to corrosion than their insides.
Glass-to-metal seals are a very important element of the construction of vacuum tubes, electric discharge tubes, incandescent light bulbs, glass encapsulated semiconductor diodes, reed switches, pressure tight glass windows in metal cases, Vacuum Insulating Glass and metal or ceramic packages of electronic components.
Soldering is a process of joining two metal surfaces together using a filler metal called solder. The soldering process involves heating the surfaces to be joined and melting the solder, which is then allowed to cool and solidify, creating a strong and durable joint.
Transient liquid phase diffusion bonding (TLPDB) is a joining process that has been applied for bonding many metallic and ceramic systems which cannot be bonded by conventional fusion welding techniques. The bonding process produces joints with a uniform composition profile, tolerant of surface oxides and geometrical defects. The bonding technique has been exploited in a wide range of applications, from the production and repair of turbine engines in the aerospace industry, to nuclear power plants, and in making connections to integrated circuit dies as a part of the microelectronics industry.
Diffusion bonding or diffusion welding is a solid-state welding technique used in metalworking, capable of joining similar and dissimilar metals. It operates on the principle of solid-state diffusion, wherein the atoms of two solid, metallic surfaces intersperse themselves over time. This is typically accomplished at an elevated temperature, approximately 50-75% of the absolute melting temperature of the materials. Diffusion bonding is usually implemented by applying high pressure, in conjunction with necessarily high temperature, to the materials to be welded; the technique is most commonly used to weld "sandwiches" of alternating layers of thin metal foil, and metal wires or filaments. Currently, the diffusion bonding method is widely used in the joining of high-strength and refractory metals within the aerospace and nuclear industries.
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