Rapid Infrared Preheating of Extrusion Die
M-Plus Project Between
Mark Shelley and Brain MansureAlcoa Engineered Products
1 550 N Kirby LaneSpanish Fork, UT 84660-1349
& Dr. Craig Blue, Dr. Srinath Viswanathan, and Dr. Peter Angelini
Materials Processing Group Infrared Processing Center
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, TN 37831
Current Die Heating Heating Technology
Issues:
• Aluminum extrusion dies and die tooling sizes range from 11.875" X 1", to 24" X 11“ (thickness/diameter).
•In order to have theses dies heated to the extrusion temperature, 820 F, these dies have to be soaked in convection type furnaces for an hour per inch of thickness.
•This means that dies have to be heated 24 hours a day in conventional convection furnaces.
•Real time changes in die tooling are not possible, a predetermined extrusion schedule must be developed to allow for the proper heating time of the tooling.
•Variations in the extrusion schedule can cause large down time of the presses if the appropriate tooling is not preheated to the proper temperatures.
Rapid IR Heating Technology May Enable Heating Dies to Temperature in Less Than 30 Minutes
Benefits:
•Real time changes in extrusion dies without maintaining large numbers of dies at the extrusion temperature.
•Energy savings through: 1) reduction in die heating time and 2) reduction in extrusion press downtime.
•Improved product dimensional control through consistent preheating of dies.
• Potentially extension of die life
Rapid IR Heating Technology May Enable Heating Entire
Die Stacks in Less Than 30 Minutes
A potential Prototype System has been Preliminarily Developed which could Heat an entire Die Stack for an aluminum extrusion facility in less than 30 minutes.
An 88kW 24 inch by 24 inch Flat Bed Infrared Furnace was UtilizedFor Experimental Work at ORNL
Experimentation:
Two separate dies provided by Alcoa were heating in an 88kW single sided IR heating unit at ORNL.
Die Material H-13 -1 inch thick by 18 inches in diameter -2 inch thick by 18 inches in diameter
IR System - 88 kW single sided IR drop bottom batch furnace - three power levels utilized, 70, 80, 90%
IR Heating Able to Preheat 1” by 12” Die to Operating
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
Temperature in 8 Minutes 600
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Top TC Bottom TC500
400
300
200
100
0
Time (min)
One sided heating at 70% power, front and back side thermal couples.
IR Heating Able to Preheat 1” by 12” Die to Operating Temperature in 5 Minutes
0
100
200
300
400
500
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Top TC Bottom TC
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
Time (min)
One sided heating at 80% power, front and back side thermal couples
IR Heating Able to Preheat 1” by 12” Die to Operating Temperature in 3.5 Minutes
0
100
200
300
400
500
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Top TC Bottom TC
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
Time (min)
One sided heating at 90% power, front and back side thermal couples
IR Heating Able to Preheat 2” by 19” Die to Operating
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Top TC
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
Temperature in 18 Minutes
Bottom TC
0 5 10 15 20
Time (min)
One sided heating at 70% power, front and back side thermal couples
Experimental one sided heating at 70% power, front and back side thermal Couples, modeled front and back side, and modeled two sided heating, 2” thick by 19” diameter die.
0
100
200
300
400
500
Top TC Bottom TC
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
IR Heating Able to Preheat 2” by 19” Die to Operating Temperature in 11 Minutes
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Time (min)
One sided heating at 80% power, front and back side thermal couples
Experimental one sided heating at 80% power, front and back side thermal Couples, modeled front and back side, and modeled two sided heating, 2” thick by 19” diameter die.
IR Heating Able to Preheat 2” by 19” Die to Operating Temperature in 8 Minutes
0
100
200
300
400
500
Top TC T
empe
ratu
re (°
C)
Bottom TC
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Time (min)
One sided heating at 90% power, front and back side thermal couples
Experimental one sided heating at 90% power, front and back side thermal Couples, modeled front and back side, and modeled two sided heating, 2” thick by 19” diameter die.
Steel Block Heating Curve to 537°C with furnace limited to 70% power
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Top TC
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
Bottom TC
Steel Block 4.5" Thick-by-12" Dia
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Time (min)
Experimental one sided heating at 70% power, front and back side thermal Couples, modeled front and back side, and modeled two sided heating, 4.5” thick by 12” diameter die.
Steel Block Heating Curve to 537°C with furnace limited to 80% power
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Top TC
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
Bottom TC
Steel Block 4.5" Thick-by-12" Dia
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time (min)
Experimental one sided heating at 80% power, front and back side thermal Couples, modeled front and back side, and modeled two sided heating, 4.5” thick by 12” diameter die.
Steel Block Heating Curve to 537°C with furnace limited to 90% power
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Top TC
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
Bottom TC
Steel Block 4.5" Thick-by-12" Dia
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time (min)
Experimental one sided heating at 90% power, front and back side thermal Couples, modeled front and back side, and modeled two sided heating, 4.5” thick by 12” diameter die.
Two Sided Heating Model Reveals that a 10” by 18” DieCan be Heated to Operating Temperature in Less than 30 Minutes
Full Scale Heating Profiles with Non-optimized Furnace
Due to the interest in heating a full extrusion die stack by Alcoa, two separate experiments were performed.
This was done knowing the times would be large but still multiple hours less then existing heating technology.
As seen in the heating data, due to the single sided heating, the furnace cuts back to 40% power only after heating 10 minutes.
Press 21(Direct - 3000 Ton Press)
“Die Holder”18.50” x 5.00”
“Die” 11.875” x 1.000”
“Feeder Plate” 11.875” x 1.000”
18.00”
18.50”
“Die Block”
“Tool Container Plate” 18.500” x 5.125”
“Backer” 18.500” x 7.875” 11.875” x 3.000”
Press 22(Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
“Die Holder”24.00” x 6.00”
“Die”19.250” x 2.000”
24.00”
24.00”
“Die Block”
“Tool Container Plate” “24.000” x 10.125”
“Backer” 24.000 x 7.875” 19.250” x 4.000”
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
Press 22(Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
Temperature profile for Alcoa Direct 4250 Ton Tool Container Plate 24" X 10.125"
600
500
400
300
200 Top
Bottom
100
Furnace limited to 70% power with plate laying horizonal
0 0 50 100 150 200
Time (min) Just the tool container plate was run do to size limitations of our furnace. With one sided heating, the tool was brought to temperature in less than an hour and a half at 70% power.
Press 22(In-Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
“1st Backer” 11.170” x 3.500”
“Die”11.170” x 1.250”
16.000”
12.640”
“Die Block”
14.240”
“12.640” x 7.000”“2nd Backer”
“Die Holder” 12.640” x 4.000”
Press 22(In-Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
Temperature profile for Alcoa In-Direct 4250 Ton Press Die Stack
Tem
pera
ture
(°C
)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0 0 50
Top of Die Holder (Control) Center of 1st Backer Top of 2nd Backer Center of 2nd Backer Bottom of 2nd Backer Top of Die Block Center of Die Block
Furnace limited to 70% powerwith stack standing vertical
100 150 200 250
Time (min)
Press 22(In-Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
The entire tool stack was heated from one side with our existing 88 kW furnace atORNL. Shown here are the dies being loaded in our existing drop bottom furnaces.
Press 22(In-Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
The entire tool stack was heated from one side with our existing 88 kW furnace at ORNL. As seen, the dies are much too large to fit in the existing setup.
Photos of the setup are shown in the following slides.
Press 22(In-Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
The entire tool stack was heated from one side with our existing 88 kW furnace at ORNL with some modification to accommodate the large dies..
Press 22(In-Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
The entire tool stack was heated from one side with our existing 88 kW furnace at ORNL.
With one sided heating, the tool was brought to temperature utilizing 70% power.
Press 22(In-Direct - 4250 Ton Press)
The entire tool stack was heated from one side with our existing 88 kW furnace at ORNL.
With one sided heating, the tool was brought to temperature in less than three hours at 70% power. Again, this is in a non-optimized furnace and was performed at Alcoa’s request.
IR Heating Provides Real Time Heating of Dies for Tool Changing
IR Single Sided Heating
- Preheats 1” by 18” dies to 820 F in 3.5 minutes
- Preheats 2” by 18” dies to 820 F in 8 minutes
- Experimental and modeling heating results match well.
IR Double Sided Heating Model
- Preheat 10” by 18” dies to 820 F in less than time needed for tooling change.
- Initial Prototype design capable of heating entire die stack in less than 30 minutes completed.
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