What is cold work hardening

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The cold working hardening process is a manufacturing method that utilizes the cold working hardening of metal materials to enhance their strength, hardness, and wear resistance. Examples of the use of this process include: sandblasting (to increase surface hardness and wear resistance), cold rolling (to enhance the strength of sheets and profiles), cold heading (to increase the strength of bolts), and so on. During cold plastic deformation of metals, the strength properties of these metals, such as yield strength and hardness, increase, while their plasticity properties, such as elongation, decrease. This phenomenon is known as cold working hardening. Cold working hardening causes a sharp decline in a material’s plasticity properties, hindering further deformation of the material and leading to its fracture. This effect is particularly pronounced in drawing operations, especially when multiple drawing steps are involved. Therefore, in stamping processes, effective measures must be taken, such as implementing intermediate annealing steps, in order to eliminate the adverse effects of cold working hardening on the stamping process.