Extrusion

Advanced components for the extrusion industry

The extrusion industry requires materials and components that can cope with extremely difficult conditions. Having worked together with extrusion plants for more than 30 years, we have seen many problems and success stories and have definitely learned a lot. High quality and creative solutions stem from the combination of the experience at Uddeholm Machining and the highly qualified researchers and application engineers of our Uddeholm sister companies.

We design and produce extrusion components. These are often delivered as parts of a system, complete with heating and cooling systems, as well as an on-going service commitment. For example, when the extrusion container needs reconditioning, we carry out a service at our plant in Hagfors, Sweden. We also keep a log of our customers’ tools, making it easy to amass knowledge over time and monitor the customer’s tool and any servicing carried out. This is a service we know is valuable.

Let us be your partner in the never-ending search for highest performance and lowest cost per produced unit. Together we find the causes of any issue and advise you to appropriate countermeasures. In addition to advice, we also provide drawings, engineering support and components or systems.

We take care of everything

Containers are built in two or three parts. A two-part container consists of a mantle and a liner, while a three-part container comprises a mantle, an intermediate liner and a liner proper.

The function of the container is to take up the hydrostatic and tangential stresses derived from the extrusion force. Both container and liner are subject to a number of factors that affect the length of their life. These factors lead to premature breakage and unjustifiable production stops, leading to higher production costs.

It is of economical importance and quality that the container and liner perform all the way through. Uddeholm Machining document and evaluate the status of the containers and liners well and forms a solid base for preventive actions, planned change and trouble-free production.

Our container production is based on a profound knowledge about the performance of steel, the conditions in metal extrusion and the experience and skill of our people.

 

Liner

Thousands of billets are passing through the container and liner during their lifetime. Our containers and liners perform well because they are fitted to each other carefully with thermal load, press forces and present status taken into consideration.

We produce and fit the liners according to our long experienced standards. You achieve better economy through controlled production and controlled purchase process. There are no surprises.

 

Mantle

If the elastic limit is exceeded for the steel in the mantle, the whole container will deform plastically to an extent that it may go out of tolerance. In extreme loading situations there is even a risk that the entire container can crack.

Uddeholm Machining knows that careful execution and fit is vital in the building of a new container.

Through experienced measurement interpretation, it is possible to separate otherwise undetectable irregularities in operational parameters, to repair visible damages and to accurately calculate container life expectancy.

We monitor from step one

We know that careful execution and fit is vital in the building of a new container. So are the relinings and measurements of the container´s status.

When relining, we check the container thoroughly and document it’s status. This means that at every new relining, we can compare the present status with the status at earlier relinings.

We can then forecast the life of the container and advise you on how to counteract.

The dummy block has two basic functions – protect the stem and to prevent backward leakage of the metal being extruded.

Since dummy blocks are subjected to high pressure and high temperature simultaneously, the tool steel for these components is required to exhibit:

  • high level of hot strength/hot hardness
  • good temper resistance
  • good resistance to plastic deformation

In order to provide you with a problem-free operation, Uddeholm Machining produces dummy blocks that demonstrate predictable behaviour block after block.

We developed the Hagbard active pushing block, which combines the superb performance of Uddeholm hot work steel with an ingenius design.

Shear blades are subjected to wear at elevated temperatures.

Inadequate steel or inappropriate design can lead to excessive wear and serious damage to the blades, which ultimately leads to increased replacement costs for the blades themselves and for the attendant labour, not to mention lower aluminium yield in production.

We developed Attila in order to help our customers prevent these costly problems and also to reduce work and downtime associated with the changing of knives.

Attila is made from Uddeholm hot work steel, with a special design from Uddeholm Machining that makes it easy to change. Also, only the working part is changes which saves tune as well as material.

The stem transfers the power of the main cylinder onto the billet, via a dummy block. Stems are subject to high pressure during extrusion but their working temperature is relatively low as they are not in contact with the billet. A stem must not bend or otherwise deform at the temperature of operation.

Due to the high pressure and a dangerous environment, it is of great importance to regularly inspect the stem in respect of parallelism between the planes, straightness and surface condition. Uddeholm Machining offers a maintenance program for stems, which includes regular check-ups.

Uddeholm Machining produce stems in hardness range 46-50 HRC. Independent of what material is to be extruded, we commonly use Uddeholm Orvar 2 Microdized, Uddeholm Dievar or Uddeholm Formvar.

Uddeholm Formvar is a new, high performance hot work tool steel from Uddeholm. Formvar is characterized by very good resistance to hot wear and plastic deformation.

We are relining and refurbishing containers for our customers regularly as well as designing and constructing new containers.

In addition we can provide complete heating systems including design and process control.

To minimize the thermal stress it is important to choose the right heating system for your container. Contact us for advice on selection and engineering support.

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