COLD FORGING – LIGHTER AND TOUGHER

Forging is one of the oldest metal working methods known to man. It is used to create high-strength, ultra-hard objects like tools, weapons and high-stress engine components. Rather than melting the metal stock and casting it into the shape of a mould, the raw metal billet is placed in a die and hammered into shape with a powerful hydraulic hammer.

This is more expensive per unit than casting, and requires a very large tooling investment to create the dies. However as the metal grains are perfectly aligned to the shape of the part, the surface is exceptionally strong, and it has excellent resistance to impacts and fatigue over continued stress.

In the video, you can see the benefits of Forging clearly. Casting has a random grain structure, failing to preserve any grain strength in the original material. CNC operations actually remove surface hardness from the stock Billet by leaving the grains open ended. Forging aligns the grain structure with the shape of the finished piece, resulting in an approx 30% increase in strength to the original Billet, making it possible for us to make much lighter trucks.

This is the reason why things like spanners, hammers, nuts, bolts, swords, axes, engine pistons, camshafts, jet engine components and racecar transmissions are forged – it gives the highest strength possible from the material.

We use forged 6061-T6 Aluminium Billet for our “F series” components to produce the lightest and strongest trucks on the market. We are currently the only truck manufacturer to use this production method for RKP trucks.