Although hot-rolled sections make up the largest volume of rolled products in the United States, did you know that contract rolling uses only cold rolling? So, for us, cold forming is just ...... roll forming. Hot rolling is basically non-existent in the contract OEM roll forming segment. This process is handled by the steel mill to create a standard commodity type shape.
So, when it comes to hot forming vs. cold roll forming, what is the difference between cold forming and sometimes cold forming is better than hot forming?
Cold Roll Forming Machine
There are uses for both hot and cold forming. The properties of certain metal grades sometimes determine whether you should hot form them or cold form them. So what is the biggest difference between hot rolled steel and cold formed steel?
For hot steel, it may take 50 rolls to thin the part, while cold forming may take 100 passes. Why? More force is required to manipulate the metal.
However, uses more rolls, you also get tighter part tolerances and a higher quality end product. This may add cost due to the additional machine and labor time required, but it may be worth it to your customer.
Structural shapes like I-beams are usually hot rolled. The steel formulation used for I-beams is different from the steel used for cold forming. It is less ductile and harder, which makes it more difficult to bend cold and therefore used for structural shapes that carry a lot of weight!
Cold roll forming has many commercial and industrial uses. They include
Road signs and guardrails
Solar
Cold storage
Escalators and elevators
For similar grades, cold rolled metal is stronger than hot rolled metal because of what is called work hardening. When you put a piece of material through 100 and 50 passes, the strain you apply to the material actually hardens it and makes it stronger.
If you specify a hot rolled sheet for a part that will be roll formed, you still get some additional strength. However, if you start using standard cold rolled material, it will not achieve the strength you are getting.
As we mentioned, steel plates are only hot rolled to a certain thickness. You cannot buy 20-gauge hot-rolled plate. At that point, you will have to use cold rolled.
Since roll-formed parts are usually made from coils, the length of the product is limited only by the amount of material in the coil and the handling of the finished part. The hot rolled shape is also limited only by the capacity of the equipment.
Cold roll forming typically produces a better, more attractive finished surface with tighter tolerances. It can be formed into a variety of shapes and can easily be galvanized, painted or powder coated during the forming process.
The key, of course, is to use the right process for the job . If you need to know more about whether your application is suitable for roll forming or an alternative process, it's best to ask the manufacturer before combining yourself with either process.
Cold forming section steel production line is used to roll and form cold & hot rolling steel into all kinds of open cold-forming sectional steel like C-shaped steel, U-shaped steel, L-shaped steel and guard fence plates of freeway, etc. This line can also produce the different sizes of steel sheet piling used in the tunnel construction and foundation field. At the same time, it can work matching with the relative punching machine to satisfy more different requirement of clients.
Shijiazhuang Zhonghui Cold-Forming& Pipe-Welding Equipment Co., Ltd., founded in 1997, is a new high-tech enterprise specialized in the development of welded pipe molding technology and manufacturing for the complete set of equipments of welded pipes. Welcome to contact us today or request a quote.