committee

The Working Group Heavy Metal deals with the topics that are currently in the changing industrial production of energy-intensive extruded semi-finished products. Innovative, sophisticated products made of heavy metals such as copper, copper alloys, e.g. brass, but also precious metals, are an integral part of many industries (automotive, sanitary, mechanical engineering, electrical, etc.). The experts of the Working Group come from production companies, colleges, and universities, but also supplier companies in tool steel production and mechanical engineering. Experts are also invited to give guest lectures on specific topics. The Working Group makes an important contribution to networking among experts and enables them to "think outside the box". In addition to the technical discussions, knowledge, and experience are exchanged on the current topics of occupational safety, energy-saving, etc.

The extrusion forming process is widely used in the production of bar-shaped semi-finished products made of heavy metal / precious metal. The extrusion process is divided into the cold and hot extrusion. Products made of heavy metal / precious metal are manufactured using the hot extrusion process. Due to the sometimes very high process temperatures and high specific extrusion forces, there are always new questions and challenges for the tools and tool materials.
Due to the constantly increasing quality requirements and the clear objective to save resources, another challenge is to understand the processes better and better and to continuously improve the process stability. Especially in hot forming by extrusion, a large number of process parameters are directly interdependent. Digitization offers great opportunities here.
New innovative technologies such as the simulation of extrusion processes, for example, to optimize die geometries, are very promising and are being used more and more frequently.
Another very important topic is occupational safety and the associated requirement to provide maximum protection for employees. A lot can be achieved here through automation measures.
Conserving resources is a very high priority to secure the future of our energy-intensive industry. Energy and environmental issues are therefore also part of the discussions in the Working Group.