EBNER HOTFORM Roller-hearth Furnaces for Aluminum Blanks

HOTFORM roller-hearth furnaces for blanks.

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.

HOTFORM roller-hearth furnaces are distinguished by the following features:

• HICON jet system for rapid and even heat transfer
• Continuous operation
• Ceramic rollers (no special coating required)
• Long bearing life without bearing cooling system
• Emergency cooling system, for use when the press or furnace must shut down
• Blank handling system with simple, quick settings to precisely position the blanks, ensuring flexible, trouble-free operation
• Straightforward maintenance

Technical data:

• Alloys: AA2XXX, AA5XXX, AA6XXX, AA7XXX
• Processing temperatures: up to 560 °C
• Temperature uniformity: +/- 5 °C
• Nominal width: 2200 mm
• Heated length: 13,500 mm (may be modified)
• Heating system: gas-fired or electrically heated
• Convection: HICON jet system