Modern cold forming is a technique used for rapidly forming metal parts such as screws, bolts and many other fasteners. Cold forming, also referred to as cold heading, uses a heavy strike against a cold metal slug to shape it into its desired form. The force of the strike exceeds the metal’s yield strength, causing the metal to flow into the desired shape inside the carbide die.

Gradient alloys use local decarburization to move the cobalt down from the sequence of A to B to C. Thus, the hardest point is at A, followed by B, and the softest point is at C because B and C are both softer than A.

To protect the alloy from getting damaged easily, there is a particular buffer in the process. The mold can disperse part of the force to improve the overall service life of the dies and save customers money.