Impact Extrusion
The shape of the impact extruded components can be vary almost arbitrarily - which can be removed from the tools – the bottom of the produced components can be flat or shaped in many ways, the wall thickness can be different from the bottom thickness. The raw materials of the impact extruded components are usually aluminium sometimes copper.
The impact extrusion technology offers in many cases a more cost-effective solution of producing aluminium and copper components comparing to other technologies, the investment in the tooling might return even at a relatively small (1 000 pieces) volumes.
Impact extrusion consists of the transformation, by cold forming, of a raw material billet (slug) into a product by application of a single high force impact applied by a special type of mechanical press. Depending on the geometry of the product the extrusion process may require forward or backward flow of the material or a combination of both of these modes. With further operations additional features can be formed on the component such as holes, grooves, threads.
Advantages particularly associated with the Impact extrusion process:
- Economy of manufacture achieved through minimum material and energy usage
- Thin wall hollow components can be produced
- Rapid production rate
- Relatively low tooling cost
- Significantly enhanced material properties
- Guaranteed freedom from porosity
- Maintenance of fine tolerances over an extended production run
- Potential for design simplification
- Wide range of applicability