Types of Metal Fabrication Process and their Applications

Metals are useful in our daily life. From our home to anywhere in the world, we are surrounded by these metals. Whether it is jewelry, kitchen utensils, electronic gadgets, or medical devices, all are made of metals. Now the most important question is

How are metal products made?

The metal products are made by the process of metal fabrication. The process of metal fabrication helps in giving shape to the metal equipment. Let’s know more about what is metal fabrication? And also, their processes, applications, as well as benefits.  

What is Metal Fabrication?

Metal fabrication is the process of giving a metal its desired shape or structure. It undergoes a few steps that result in the entire preparation of the product. The steps are as follows;

• Designing: Designing the structure is the essential step to follow. The sample designed should have the proper measurement to bring the metal to its desired shape. 
• Fabrication: It involves the cutting, bending, and assembling of the metal, giving the metal the perfect size and shape. 
• Installing: It is the last step where the end products of the metals are brought together. 

Metal fabrication is typically used in the medical and IT industries. Metal fabricators work with a wide range of raw materials. It includes plate metal, cast metal, expanded metal, welding wires, and rods. Metals fabricators focus on everything starting from metal preparation to fabrication.

What are Different Types of Metal Fabrication Process?

Metal fabrication involves different processes such as cutting, casting, folding, welding, machining, punching, shearing, and stamping. Let's know in detail about these metal fabrication processes -

1. Cutting

It is the most commonly used metal fabrication process. In cutting, the metals are divided into halves, thirds, or smaller sections. They are especially performed by high-tech machinery. The metals bars and measurement panels are mainly designed by the cutting process of metal fabrication. They are freshly cut and given the shape of a particular design. 

2. Casting

Casting is the oldest and easiest process of metal fabrication. In this process, the metal is made to melt and then pour into a mold. The melted metal is kept to solidify and convert into a specific form. It is used in a wide range of complex metal-making. The metals used for casting are steel, iron, gold, magnesium, copper, and silver.

3. Folding

In the case of folding, the surface of the metal is manipulated to shape at a particular angle. At a certain application, the intent is to make the metal surface fold at 90 degrees. The angle indicates whether it is more or less blunt. Due to the complexity of the process, metal fabrication is performed with specific and high-tech equipment. 

That is why Folding is known as one of the complicated processes of metal fabrication.

4. Welding 

Apart from cutting, welding is also one of the famous processes of metal fabrication. In this process, the two separate parts of metals are joined together. The parts such as sheets, panels, bars, and shapes are used in a welding application. Welding also involves the application of heat at the point they are meant to be joined. Mainly, it is the final step of metal fabrication.

Read More: Difference Between Metal Fabrication and Welding

5. Machining

The removal of the pieces from the metal using the machine is termed machining. The entire process of machining is performed on a lathe. The machine will rotate the metal against the tools. The tool works by cutting the pieces of the metal by giving the desired shape following the measurement.

6. Punching 

When holes are required to be made in metals, the process that follows is punching. In this process, the metal is placed under a die and punched by a drill. This is the process that uses a punch press to force tools in the metal. It is a cheap method to create a hole in metals. The punching process is also able to make multiple holes.

7. Shearing 

To remove unwanted materials in the metal the shearing process is followed. The process involves the usage of different tools or machines like bench shear. It helps to cut through metal sheets with the best precision. The shearing process is done by forcing an upper blade and a lower blade past each other.

8. Stamping

The process of pressing metals in metal fabrication is known as stamping. The process is also called pressing. The process is used to place flat sheet metals, in blank or coil form, into a stamping press. Stamping is generally used to give desired shapes to a metal sheet. Stamping also involves different techniques for different shapes like bending, blanking, coining, embossing, and flanging.

Benefits of Metal Fabrication Process

The metal fabrication process is beneficial for building and construction. Raw usage of metals can lower the productivity of metal constructions and machinery. Metal fabrication allows providing different shapes to the metal sheets according to the need. 

Fabricated metal shows higher resistance to heat reducing heat expansion. Versatility is also another benefit of metal fabrication. With fabrication, metals go through various processes like chipping, soldering, forging, casting, and deep drawing. Overall, it gives variety in metal. 

Fabricated metals also tend to show greater and improved strength that makes them durable for years. 

Applications of Metal Fabrication 

Metal fabrication has several applications in the field of almost all modern industries.

• Fabricated metals are used by building and construction industries on a large scale. 
• The process of metal fabrications is also applied for different other industries like the farming industry, aerospace industry, and many others. 
• Aircraft and flight maintenance needs a lot of fabricated metals to function. 
• Farming equipment and parts rely greatly on fabricated metals. 
• Various daily life appliances and instruments are made of fabricated metals. 
• Metal fabrications are used to produce steel cans, blinds, steel shade or roof, door handles, grills, heaters, chairs, silverware, fans, locks, keys, etc.

Read More: A Beginners Guide To Metal Polishing

To conclude, the metal manufacturing process involves a lot of refining processes before the final metal product is produced. Fabrication forms an entire industry that provides the services of fabrication and refining of metal through multiple processes.

In the above article, we have learned all the aspects related to metal fabrication. The metal fabrication process, benefits, and modern-day applications are also discussed in detail.