"THE DRAMA OF METAL FORMING" 1959 METAL FOUNDRY & FORMING PROCESS SHELL OIL INDUSTRIAL FILM 72242

About

Created in 1959, "The Drama of Metal Forming" is an exceptional film that shows the forming of metal in a foundry. It was directed by Peter DeNormanville and produced by Raymond Spottiswoode.

00:00 The world outputs over 350 million tons of metal annually, almost all of which goes through a forming process. Metal forming is defined as pressing, squeezing, or rolling metal into shape, as opposed to machining it. This depends on plasticity—the ability to change shape under pressure. Forming converts brittle ingots with long columnar crystals into usable shapes with a finer, more uniform internal structure.

1:55 The most important forming process is hot rolling. A slabbing mill reduces 14-ton ingots into slabs about 8 inches thick. As the rolls bite into the steel, the crystals break down and re-form, making the metal tougher and more resistant to failure. A two-high reversing mill.

5:40 The slab, once reduced to 8 inches, is cropped by shears into correct lengths. It passes through a roughing mill and then a six-stand finishing mill, where it is reduced to under an inch thick. The strip leaves the finishing mill at 2,000 feet per minute, cooled by water jets , and wound onto a coiler. The finished hot-rolled strip has a fine, regular grain structure and is tough and ductile. It is used to make products like steel pipe for household gas and water.

7:36 The hot-rolled strip is reheated in a tunnel furnace (7:36) and bent into a tube by forming rolls (7:48). Further rolls press the edges together for butt welding (7:54). The finished tube is cut by a flying saw (8:19).

8:33 Most non-ferrous metals, such as a slab of copper are also hot-rolled. Copper is shown being rolled on a three-high mill where it passes between the bottom and middle rolls, then returns between the middle and top rolls. Lubricants are generally not needed for hot working.

9:45- After hot rolling, metals often undergo cold rolling. In this process, lubricants are critical to reduce friction, increase reduction per pass, carry away heat, and improve surface finish. A high proportion of steel strip is cold-rolled using an oil emulsion. Cold rolling gives an excellent surface finish but makes the metal harder, stronger, and less ductile. To restore softness and ductility, the metal undergoes annealing.

12:41 Forging, an ancient process, remains unsurpassed for making individual parts of intricate shape or great size. The film shows a 170-ton mass of steel being forged into a turbo generator shaft using a 7,000-ton press, which squeezes the metal up to 8 inches at a stroke. A skilled forgeman works these enormous masses with remarkable accuracy.

14:55- Drop forging is used for small parts . A hot billet is placed between shaped dies. The impact of the hammer causes the metal's grain to follow the die's shape, giving the workpiece great toughness. A crankshaft is shown being formed and, once the flash is cut off, will require very little machining.

16:35 The forging of railway car wheels involves rough forging, reheating, and then rolling out the wheel to its final diameter.

19:59 Rotary forging is used to make high-quality seamless tube for oil drill pipe and high-pressure steam. The forging rolls break open the center of the ingot, producing a thick-walled tube. This is then elongated and reduced in wall thickness in the plug mill.

22:34 Much hot-formed tube is subsequently cold drawn (21:40). Large volumes of lubricant are supplied to the dies to reduce friction (22:04). Cold drawing reduces both the diameter and wall thickness. Wire drawing is a similar cold process (23:26). Successive coils are welded to keep production continuous (23:36). Hard materials like tungsten carbide and diamond are used for the dies due to high pressure and temperatures. In the extrusion process, metal is pushed through the die instead of being drawn (25:01-25:08).

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