Michael Press said:Whenever I read about a "forged" aluminum alloy part for a
bicycle, my mind balks, my stomach clenches, and I refuse to
accept it. A forge is a furnace for heating steel and iron,
preperatory to working it. By working I mean hammering, bending,
drawing, rolling, twisting, creasing, folding, welding, piercing,
crushing, pressing, and the like. Are "forged" aluminum alloy
parts actually formed in this fashion? Please humor me in my
skepticism; I have heard too much hyperbole and misrepresentation
in bicycle marketing to easily set aside my own apprehension of
reality. Thank you.
you've been taking too much of the paranoia on r.b.t. literally. not
every word published by the marketing department of a bike company is a lie.
as to the "forge" to which you refer, the type used by a blacksmith &
the like, that is lazy use of the word. it /is/ a furnace that allows
the smith to forge their wares, but the actual "forging" process itself
is the hammering that follows, not the heating.
forging can be hot or cold or something in between & and each imparts
different properties to the finished product. commonly desired
properties of hot forging include densification & redistribution of
inclusions. properties of cold forging include increasing yield stress
by increasing the dislocation density.