Hot extrusion forces heated metal billets through a hardened steel die to form rods, tubes, and profiles. Using aluminum, steel, copper, and titanium alloys, the process provides uniform shapes for automotive, aerospace, and construction applications.
Hot extrusion is a deformation process in which heated billets are forced through a die to create long profiles with uniform cross‑sections. Billets are typically heated to 450–500°C for aluminum and up to 1200°C for steels, ensuring sufficient ductility and reduced forming forces. The process can be direct—where the ram pushes the billet toward the die—or indirect, which reduces friction by moving the die toward the billet. Common materials processed include aluminum alloys, copper, steels, and titanium. Tooling usually consists of Hot Work Tool Steel dies, extrusion stems, containers, dummy blocks, and shear rings designed to withstand high pressure, wear, and thermal cycling. Lubrication and die cooling are critical for surface quality and tool life. Hot extrusion enables the production of rods, tubes, bars, structural profiles, and precision components used in automotive, aerospace, construction, heat exchangers, and electrical applications where consistent properties and complex shapes are required.
BÖHLER W302 ISOBLOC is a 5% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2344 (X40CrMoV5-1). Produced via the electroslag remelting process (ESR), this tool steel has very high hot toughness as well as very high hot hardness and a very good resistance against heat-checkings. The combination of these properties makes it a top performer in closed- and open-die forging as well as in high- and low-pressure die casting. In addition, this material has very good polishability and is therefore also often used as a molding material for plastic injection molds.
Read MoreBÖHLER W302 ISODISC is a 5% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2344 (X40CrMoV5-1). This common tool steel has good hot toughness as well as a high hot hardness and a high resistance against heat-checkings. The combination of these properties makes it a standard choice in extrusion, forging and low-pressure die casting. This material is also available as W302 ISOBLOC which is a remelted grade with improved cleanliness, homogeneity and toughness.
Read MoreThe BÖHLER W360 AMPO is the powder equivalent of the W360 ISOBLOC. Due to its chemical composition, the material belongs to the product group of hot-work tool steels. After hardening and tempering, it can achieve a hardness of up to 57 HRC with very good toughness properties. Its high temperature wear resistance, heat resistance and toughness characterizes the material. Applications: Printed components with conformal cooling for die casting applications, wear protection layers and repair work in mold making using laser cladding.
Read MoreBÖHLER W360 ISOBLOC is a material produced by the electroslag remelting process (ESR), which has been specially adapted for use at high tool hardnesses in the range of 51-57 HRC. Although the steel can be classified as a 5% chromium steel, the increased carbon and molybdenum content coupled with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology ensures that BÖHLER W360 ISOBLOC still shows a very good toughness and an exceptionally good thermal resistance, even at high hardness levels. These properties make the steel the perfect choice for smaller components in the die casting sector (e.g., mold inserts, cores, core pins, ejector pins, etc.). The material also is frequently the preferred choice for closed-die and open-die forging tools due to its high wear resistance. Because of this excellent wear resistance and the high toughness, BÖHLER W360 ISOBLOC is also frequently used for cold work applications and as a molding material for plastic injection molds. The Steel also is available as powder material for metal-3D-printing under the brand name BÖHLER W360 AMPO.
Read MoreBÖHLER W403 VMR is a vacuum remelted material which was developed as a problem solver for tools for where a standard solution is no longer sufficient. The steel can be assigned to the 5% chromium steels and has a very high purity due to the special manufacturing technology. In addition, the increased molybdenum content leads to improved thermal resistance as well as wear resistance, which makes BÖHLER W403 VMR an all-rounder that is often used for highly stressed dies in the die casting sector. In addition, Böhler W403 VMR has outstanding polishability. For this reason, the steel is also popular as a molding material for plastic injection molds.
Read MoreUddeholm Dievar is a premium steel developed for the demanding application of high pressure casting. With new process improvements and development for use in large sizes, Uddeholm Dievar’s quality and toughness is better than ever. It is the industry benchmark for a high performance steel for the longest tool life and lowest crack risks due to its superior toughness and ductility. Apart from die casting it has proven itself as a great tool steel for other applications such as forging, extrusion and hot stamping. Uddeholm Dievar is also available for Additive Manufacturing, powder for processing Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) and Laser Metal Deposition (LMD). Benefits Uddeholm Dievar has superior heat checking and hot properties over AISI H13 and AISI H11 Perfect for large structural dies Standard specification AISI H13 / AFNOR Z35 CDV 5.3
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