As a material, aluminum combines low weight with high strength. Hot formed aluminum components are being used more and more often in the automotive and aerospace industries, in order to create complex shapes with just one processing step.
EBNER is proving its reputation as the most competitive and innovative full solution provider with another innovation: a heat treatment furnace for aluminum hot forming blanks for the automotive industry.
The HOTFORM roller-hearth furnace, with HICON high convection technology, heats the blanks quickly and accurately. After reaching exactly the required material temperature, the blanks are travel at high speed out of the furnace. They are then stopped, centered and raised at the decharging roller table. A robot or feeder system then places the blanks directly into the press, where they are formed and cooled at the same time.
This hot forming of the aluminum blanks permits a high degree of formability. The subsequent aging process creates high strength values in the blanks.
The HOTFORM roller-hearth furnace meets all requirements of CQI-9, and can be equipped with either a gas-fired or an electric heating system. An emergency cooling system is provided to prevent overheating of the blanks in the event of a stoppage of the press or the furnace.