noncutting

Noncutting is a term used in manufacturing and materials engineering to describe processes and tools that modify a workpiece without removing material through cutting. Noncutting methods differ from cutting processes in that they reshape, deform, or finish the material rather than produce chips. The term is used across metalworking, plastics processing, and woodworking, among other fields.

Noncutting techniques rely on plastic deformation, phase transformation, diffusion, or surface finishing. Typical approaches include metal forming (cold and hot forming), forging, rolling, extrusion, drawing, bending, and swaging; stamping and embossing can form features through deformation rather than cutting. Surface treatments such as peening and certain diffusion bonding or adhesive bonding methods also qualify when they do not remove material.

Examples of noncutting processes:

- Rolling and extrusion

- Forging and deep drawing

- Bending and swaging

- Peening and certain diffusion or bonding techniques

- Embossing and forming operations that create geometry without material removal

Advantages and limitations:

- Advantages: often produce high-integrity surfaces, reduce tool wear and material waste, can yield precise geometries and beneficial residual stresses, and may improve mechanical properties through forming and surface treatment.

- Limitations: typically require ductile materials, may entail high forming forces and specialized equipment, and can be less capable of creating complex internal features or holes without subsequent cutting.

In practice, noncutting processes are chosen to meet design goals such as material efficiency, surface quality, and structural performance, often used in combination with cutting operations to complete complex parts.