This article is a list of terms commonly used in the practice of metalworking – the science, art, industry, and craft of shaping metal.

Processes

The following is a categorical list of metalworking processes: operations, procedures, techniques, and other actions performed that pertain to or consist of metalworking.

Casting

Casting is the process of creating objects by filling a mold with molten metal and allowing it to cool. *

Centrifugal Centrifugal (a key concept in rotating systems) may refer to: *Centrifugal casting (industrial), Centrifugal casting (silversmithing), and Spin casting (centrifugal rubber mold casting), forms of centrifigual casting *Centrifugal clutch *Centrifug ...

Continuous Continuity or continuous may refer to: Mathematics * Continuity (mathematics), the opposing concept to discreteness; common examples include ** Continuous probability distribution or random variable in probability and statistics ** Continuous ...

Die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

* Evaporative-pattern ** Full-mold ** Lost-foam *

Investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

** in art:

Lost-wax Lost-wax casting (also called "investment casting", "precision casting", or ''cire perdue'' which has been adopted into English from the French, ) is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture (often silver, gold, brass, or bronze) i ...

* Permanent mold * Plaster mold * Sand * Semi-solid metal * Shaw process * Shell molding *

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

;Related terms * Foundry * Crucible *

Molding sand Molding sand, also known as foundry sand, is a sand that when moistened and compressed or oiled or heated tends to pack well and hold its shape. It is used in the process of sand casting for preparing the mold cavity. Green sand Green sand is an a ...

* Refractory

Forming

Forming is the process of reshaping metal without adding or removing material. *

Hot working In metallurgy, hot working refers to processes where metals are plastically deformed above their recrystallization temperature. Being above the recrystallization temperature allows the material to recrystallize during deformation. This is impor ...

Hot rolling In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

** Carburizing **

Drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

Forging Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which i ...

Forge weld Forge welding (FOW), also called fire welding, is a solid-state welding process that joins two pieces of metal by heating them to a high temperature and then hammering them together. It may also consist of heating and forcing the metals together ...

** Oxidising **

Extruding Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex ...

* Cold working ** Coining ** Cutting ** Electrohydraulic forming **

Electromagnetic forming Electromagnetic forming (EM forming or magneforming) is a type of high-velocity, cold forming process for electrically conductive metals, most commonly copper and aluminium. The workpiece is reshaped by high-intensity pulsed magnetic fields tha ...

Explosive forming Explosive forming is a metalworking technique in which an explosive charge is used instead of a punch or press. It can be used on materials for which a press setup would be prohibitively large or require an unreasonably high pressure, and is gene ...

** Hydroforming ** Progressive stamping ** Punching ** Rolling ** Sinking **

Spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

** Swaging ** Tube bending ** Bending **

Shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

** Stamping **

Milling Milling may refer to: * Milling (minting), forming narrow ridges around the edge of a coin * Milling (grinding), breaking solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting in a mill * Milling (machining), a process of using rota ...

** Sanding ** Grinding **

Cold forging Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it ...

** Cold rolling

Cutting

Cutting is the process of reshaping metal by removing material. *

Machining Machining is a process in which a material (often metal) is cut to a desired final shape and size by a controlled material-removal process. The processes that have this common theme are collectively called subtractive manufacturing, which utilizes ...

** Boring **

Broaching The BROACH warhead is a Tandem-charge, multi-stage warhead developed by Team BROACH; BAE Systems Global Combat Systems Munitions, Thales Missile Electronics and QinetiQ. BROACH stands for ''Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented CHarge''. Development of ...

Drilling Drilling is a cutting process where a drill bit is spun to cut a hole of circular cross-section in solid materials. The drill bit is usually a rotary cutting tool, often multi-point. The bit is pressed against the work-piece and rotated at ra ...

** Electrical discharge machining **

Electrochemical machining Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a method of removing metal by an electrochemical process. It is normally used for mass production and is used for working extremely hard materials or materials that are difficult to machine using conventional met ...

Electron beam machining Electron-beam machining (EBM) is a process where high-velocity electrons concentrated into a narrow beam that are directed towards the work piece, creating heat and vaporizing the material. EBM can be used for very precise cutting or boring of a w ...

** Engraving ** Facing ** Grinding **

Hobbing Hobbing is a machining process for gear cutting, cutting splines, and cutting sprockets on a hobbing machine, which is a special type of milling machine. The teeth or splines of the gear are progressively cut into the material (a flat, cylind ...

** Photochemical machining ** Turning **

Ultrasonic machining Ultrasonic machining is a subtractive manufacturing process that removes material from the surface of a part through high frequency, low amplitude vibrations of a tool against the material surface in the presence of fine abrasive particles. The t ...

Joining

Joining is the process of creating metal objects by combining pieces of material. * Brazing * Crimping * Riveting * Soldering * Welding

Finishing

Finishing covers all processes that affect the properties or performance of an object without affecting its form or structure. * Anodizing * Galvanizing * Heat treating ** Annealing **

Precipitation strengthening Precipitation hardening, also called age hardening or particle hardening, is a heat treatment technique used to increase the yield strength of malleable materials, including most structural alloys of aluminium, magnesium, nickel, titanium, and so ...

* Mass finishing *

Patination Patina ( or ) is a thin layer that variously forms on the surface of copper, brass, bronze and similar metals and metal alloys (tarnish produced by oxidation or other chemical processes) or certain stones and wooden furniture (sheen produced ...

* Peening * Plating *

Polishing Polishing is the process of creating a smooth and shiny surface by rubbing it or by applying a chemical treatment, leaving a clean surface with a significant specular reflection (still limited by the index of refraction of the material accordin ...

Welding and soldering

* Arc welding * MIG welding * TIG welding * Oxyacetylene welding * Soldering * Brazing * Thermite welding

Tools

Anvil An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually forged or cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked"). Anvils are as massive as practical, because the higher th ...

Forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

* Arbor press * Drill Press *

Lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to c ...

* Milling machine * Shaper * Guillotine * Bender * Grinding machine * Band saw

Physical properties

* Ductility *

Malleability Ductility is a List of materials properties, mechanical property commonly described as a material's amenability to Drawing (manufacturing), drawing (e.g. into wire). In materials science, ductility is defined by the degree to which a materia ...

* Hardness * Hardenability ** Air hardening ** Water hardening ** Oil hardening * Work hardening * Case hardening * Brittle fracture *

Grain size Grain size (or particle size) is the diameter of individual grains of sediment, or the lithified particles in clastic rocks. The term may also be applied to other granular materials. This is different from the crystallite size, which refer ...

* Grain orientation * Crystal twinning

Steel

*Grade of hardware *Steel abbreviations * Alloy steel *

Carbon steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

* High-speed steel * Tool steel *

Stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

* Pickling *

Smooth clean surface Smooth clean surface (SCS) is a process applied to hot rolled sheet metal and coils to remove nearly all mill scale and clean the steel surface. The SCS process feeds hot rolled sheet steel, either as individual blanks or as a continuous strip ...

Machine tool parts

* Bed *

Carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

* Compound rest * Cross-slide *

Headstock A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the pegs or mechanism that holds the strings at the ...

Leadscrew A leadscrew (or lead screw), also known as a power screw or translation screw,Bhandari, p. 202. is a screw (simple machine), screw used as a linkage (mechanical), linkage in a machine, to translate Rotation, turning motion into linear motion. ...

Spindle Spindle may refer to: Textiles and manufacturing * Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn * Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool Biology * Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...

* Tailstock * Toolpost

Machine tool accessories

* 1-2-3 blocks * Boring head * Chuck *

Collet A collet is a segmented sleeve, band or ''collar''. One of the two radial surfaces of a collet is usually tapered (i.e a truncated cone) and the other is cylindrical. The term ''collet'' commonly refers to a type of chuck that uses collets t ...

s *

Dial indicator In various contexts of science, technology, and manufacturing (such as machining, fabricating, and additive manufacturing), an indicator is any of various instruments used to accurately measure small distances and angles, and amplify them to ma ...

* Indexing head * Rotary table *

Sine bar A sine bar consists of a hardened, precision ground body with two precision ground cylinders fixed at the ends. The distance between the centers of the cylinders is precisely controlled, and the top of the bar is parallel to a line through the ce ...

* Vise

Other

*Draw *Hand scrape (flatness) *Pitch * Rivet *

Blue brittleness Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when o ...

* Etching {{Metalworking navbox, cast, form, mach, tool, weld Wikipedia outlines