What are the forging methods for ball valve ball blanks

Ball valve balls are used to control the flow state of fluid in fluid transportation pipelines. Due to their simple structure, convenient installation and maintenance, good sealing performance, no internal leakage, and small size, ball valves are highly favored by market users. Different ball valves have different forging methods for ball blanks. So, what are the specific forging methods for ball blanks?

1. According to the temperature distribution during forging of spherical blanks

(1) Hot forging: Heating the billet to a certain temperature before forging is called hot forging.

(2) Cold forging: Forging the billet at room temperature is called cold forging. The tonnage of forging equipment required for cold forging is relatively large. Cold forging can obtain forgings with high precision, strength, and a smoother surface.

(3) Warm forging: The heating temperature of the billet is lower than the temperature during hot forging. It requires equipment with a smaller tonnage than cold forging, and can forge forgings with higher strength and rougher surfaces. It is a new process currently under development.

2. Divided by the force acting on the spherical blank

(1) Manual forging processing: relying on manual forging tools and manual strikes, the blank is forged into a predetermined shape on an anvil.

(2) Machine forging: relying on forging tools to make billets into forgings on various forging equipment. According to the different equipment and tools used, machine forging can be divided into four categories:

free forging, model forging, membrane forging, and special forging:

① Free forging: It is the process of forging a metal billet heated to a certain temperature between the upper and lower anvils of a free forging equipment, and the operator controls the deformation of the metal to obtain the desired shape of the forging.

② Model forging: abbreviated as die forging. It is a production method that places metal billets heated to a certain temperature into the mold cavity fixed on the forging equipment for forging and restricts their deformation, in order to obtain forgings that are consistent with the mold cavity.

③ Fetal membrane forging: abbreviated as fetal membrane forging. It is a deformation method between free forging and die forging, which heats up the metal billet to a certain temperature and uses free forging to obtain the formed forging through the fetal film not fixed on the free forging equipment.

④ Special forging: It is a forging process that shapes metal billets on specialized equipment or in special molds. Such as precision forging, roll forging and rolling, ring rolling, spiral oblique rolling, transverse rolling, extrusion forming, etc.