Description
Forging is one of the oldest metalworking methods. It involves heating a piece of metal in a fire and then shaping it with a blacksmith's hammer using an anvil. Forged objects are significantly stronger than similarly shaped cast objects. This is because the crystal structure in a cast object is random, while forging aligns the microcrystals in the direction the object is hammered. Forging metals was primarily used in the past to stiffen metals. At the meso-level, metals consist of small crystals. When iron is bent, these crystals slide past each other, creating significant resistance. By repeatedly striking the metal with a hammer, the crystals break into smaller crystals. This results in a larger surface area for all the crystals combined, which in turn increases the resistance to sliding. The crystals slide less easily past each other when the metal is deformed, resulting in a stiffer metal.
