Custom Forging vs. Weldment/Fabrication – Which is Better?

The short answer is that it depends on what you are using the components for. Forged components and fabrication weldments are similar in several ways.

• Both use similar design methods and require exact measurements to get the components to the right size.
• Both can have surface finish treatments applied, such as painting, powder coating, polishing, etc.
• Both processes require expensive equipment to produce high-quality results.

What Are Forged Components?

Forged components are parts made of steel that has been heated and hammered into specific shapes which realign the metal grains so that the metal becomes much stronger, harder, and more wear-resistant than its fabricated weldment counterparts. Some of the other reasons forged components are better than fabricated weldment components include:

• Forgings are much stronger than weldments. The forged grain orientation leads to stronger parts overall, and weld points can be a potential failure point under extreme conditions.
• Forgings are designed with more cost-effective methods than weldments. A weldment consisting of multiple components cannot be fabricated for less money than one solid forged component.
• Forgings do not require costly inspection processes for highly stressed components as weldments do.
• Forgings are simpler to produce. Welding processes require careful consideration of the metals involved in the fabrication, the joining types, and fastener types and sizes to ensure a quality result. Forgings have higher quality and better consistency.

What Are Weldments?

Weldments are fabricated products that take metal sections of a specific size and welds them together to complete the final product. Here are some of the reasons you would select weldment fab over forged components:

• Weldments are better for short, low-volume production projects
• Weldments are better for large, complex designs that cannot be forged economically
• Weldment materials cost less than those for forging
• Weldments require less processing and production time than forgings and more hours leads to higher cost
• Weldments can take advantage of robotic welders to speed up production times

For these reasons, forged components are more common in industries where strength, wear resistance, and hardness are extremely important to prevent failure, leading to dangerous, even disastrous results. Industries such as oil and gas production, petrochemical processes, heavy truck and automobile parts, medical parts, and aerospace components use many forged components and limit the use of fabricated parts using weldments.

Forged Components Is One of the Premier Custom Forging Manufacturers in the World

Forged Components manufactures custom forgings for use across the spectrum of the energy production process. From oil exploration to petrochemical production and delivery, FCI manufactures various forged components used in all of these processes. We complete all manufacturing processes in-house so that we have maximum flexibility and efficiency when filling your order. For more information, call us at (281) 441-4088 or contact us online to get a quote from our sales staff.