Hot working

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 important because recrystallization keeps the materials from strain hardening, which ultimately keeps the yield strength and hardness low and ductility high. This contrasts with cold working.

Many kinds of working, including rolling, forging, extrusion, and drawing, can be done with hot metal.

Temperature

The lower limit of the hot working temperature is determined by its recrystallization temperature. As a guideline, the lower limit of the hot working temperature of a material is 60% its melting temperature (on an absolute temperature scale). The upper limit for hot working is determined by various factors, such as: excessive oxidation, grain growth, or an undesirable phase transformation. In practice materials are usually heated to the upper limit first to keep forming forces as low as possible and to maximize the amount of time available to hot work the workpiece.