Hot vs. Cold Metal Stamping: Choosing the Best Process for Your Parts

If you need metal stamping for your application, there are two approaches – cold metal stamping and hot metal stamping. Which one you will use will depend on what type of part you are forming and what your needs are for the way you construct that part. What is hot stamping vs. cold stamping, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

What Is Hot Stamping?

In hot metal stamping, we heat steel blanks until they can be deformed. They are then formed into the proper shape using special dies and are rapidly cooled so that they lock into the desired shape.

What Are the Advantages of Hot Stamping?

Hot stamping allows you to press complex parts with great strength, so you can create a form in a single lightweight piece, rather than having to weld together thicker, heavier parts. This ability to create lightweight parts make hot stamping great for something like manufacturing car frames.

Hot stamp parts also have high tensile strength, which can be a valuable asset.

What Are the Disadvantages of Hot Stamping?

Hot stamping tends to be a more expensive process than cold stamping. In addition, once a part is formed through hot stamping, it cannot be reformed. You also cannot use hot stamping on all metals. In fact, you must use boron steel for hot stamping, which contributes to its higher cost.

What Is Cold Stamping?

In cold stamping, we shape metal sheets into the desired form using intense pressure. Because pressure is the only method used for forming the new shape, rather than heat, you usually need thicker pieces of metal so that you have more to apply the pressure to.

What Are the Advantages of Cold Stamping?

Cold stamping is faster than hot stamping. In addition, if you need to reform your part or perform processes like draws or flanging, you must use cold stamping. In addition, you have the flexibility to cold stamp parts out of a variety of metals, whereas with hot stamping you only have the option of boron steel.

What Are the Disadvantages of Cold Stamping?

In cold stamping, you may get springback, resulting in warping of your part. This doesn’t happen with hot stamping because of its high tensile strength and stress-resistance. You also do not get the same ability to manufacture lightweight, complex parts easily as you do with hot stamping.

Quality Metal Stamping Services with Fairlawn Tool, Inc.

Fairlawn Tool can perform both cold stamping and hot stamping services to meet your metalworking needs. For more information on which method will be most effective for your applications and to find out about how our metalworking can meet all your business metal fabrication requirements, contact us today.