If you’re at all like me, you wonder which articles get the most attention on our website. Every year we publish around 25 feature articles, and at the end of the year we gather statistics to see which ones get the most page views. So, without further ado, here are the five most-viewed articles on www.forgemag.com based on page views. This ranking applies only to articles published in 2020.

 

#5. Forging with Hybrid Steel

A relatively new family of steel grades, called Hybrid Steels, is well-suited to meet the demands of high-stress, high-temperature applications in which mechanical and fatigue strength are critical. These steels are strengthened by an alloying philosophy combining precipitate phases and adding aluminum as an alloying element.

Published in October 2020, this article was provided by Hans-Willi Raedt of Hirschvogel Automotive Group and Göran Nyström of Ovako AB.

 

#4. Park Ohio's Roots Go Back 100 Years

The Ohio Crankshaft Company was started a century ago in Cleveland, Ohio, by two enterprising young engineers. As their business grew, they found a way to increase the service life of their products by the use of induction-hardening technology, which they would name the TOCCO process.

A celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary, this article was written by Michael Evans and published in April 2020.

 

#3. How Hatebur Solved a Shearing Production Problem

Automotive component makers rely on forging presses and shearing systems to transform metal bars into parts. The presses work efficiently, but when the metal bars are sheared to length, visual quality inspection and additional machining are needed. The shearing process directly affects the quality of the automotive part, amount of machining required, consumption of material and, ultimately, production cost. Hatebur did some research and teamed up with Moog to integrate a servo-hydraulic valve to regulate shearing forces and control their effects on the final product.

This article, which was provided by Hatebur, was published in February 2020.

 

#2. Make Your Own Bush Knife (part 1)

This article is intended to guide the home forging enthusiast in setting up a forging shop to make knives. It is excerpted from my book on knifemaking, which was published in 2020 by Fox Chapel Publishing. Part I will take you through setting up your home forge; blade design and material selection; and making a simple forge using a propane torch as a fuel source.

Written by Bradley Richardson and published in April 2020, this article was the first of two parts. The second part was published in June.

 

#1. Increase Die Life with Lubes and Coatings

Forge shops can increase productivity and reduce costs in hot-forging and heat-treatment processes using synthetic lubricants and/or protective coatings. Hard coatings cold-welded onto high-wear areas of dies or anti-oxidation coatings painted directly onto forging billets can help.

This article, provided by Srikar P. Shenoy and S.P. Shenoy of India’s Steel Plant Specialties, was published in February 2020.