Advantages/Merits of Cold Working 1. Cold working increases the strength and hardness of the material due to the strain hardening which would be beneficial in some situations. there is no possibility of decarburization of the surface. 2 Since the working is done in cold state, hence no oxide formation on the surface and consequently, good surface finish is obtained. 3. Greater dimensional accuracy is achieved. 4. Easier to handle cold parts and also economical for small sizes. 5. Better mechanical properties are achieved.
Disadvantages/Demerits of Cold Working 1. Only small sized components can be easily worked as greater forces are required for large sections. Due to large deforming forces, heavy and expensive capital equipment is required. 2. The grain structure is not refined and residual stresses have harmful effects on certain properties of metals. 3. Many of the metals have less ductility e.g., carbon steel and certain alloy steels, cannot be cold worked at room temperature. It is therefore, limited to ductile metals and the range of shapes produced is not as wide as can be obtained by machining. 4. Tooling costs are high and as such it is used when large quantities of similar components are required