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 W300 ISOBLOC is a 5% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2343 (X37CrMoV5-1). Produced via the electroslag remelting process (ESR), this tool steel has very high hot toughness as well as good hot hardness and very good resistance against heat-checkings. The combination of these properties makes it a top performer in high- and low-pressure die casting as well as in closed-die and open-die forging. In addition, this material has very good polishability and is therefore also often used as a molding material for plastic injection molds.
Citește mai multBÖHLER W300 ISODISC is a 5% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2343 (X37CrMoV5-1). 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 W300 ISOBLOC which is a remelted grade with improved cleanliness, homogeneity and toughness.
Citește mai multBÖHLER 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.
Citește mai multBÖHLER 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.
Citește mai multBÖHLER W303 ISODISC is a 5% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2367 (X38CrMoV5-3). This tool steel has good hot toughness as well as a very high hot hardness and resistance against heat-checkings. Compared to an X37CrMoV5-1 (material number 1.2343), the steel has an increased molybdenum content, which significantly increases its thermal resistance and thus makes it the ideal material in die closed-die forging, open-die forging and extrusion.
Citește mai multBÖHLER W320 ISODISC is a 3% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2365 (32CrMoV12-28). This tool steel has good hot toughness as well as a very high hot hardness and resistance against heat-checkings. Compared to an X37CrMoV5-1 (material number 1.2343), the steel has an increased molybdenum content, which significantly increases its thermal resistance and thus makes it the ideal material in die closed- and open-doe forging. Due to the lower chromium content, reduced through-hardenability occurs which limits its applications to rather smaller tools.
Citește mai multBÖHLER W350 ISOBLOC is a material produced by the electroslag remelting process (ESR) which is particularly suitable for use in large casting and forging molds. Although the steel can be classified as a 5% chromium steel, the chemical composition has been chosen to provide the best possible through-hardenability without any loss of toughness or resistance against heat-checkings. These properties make the steel the perfect choice to produce very large die casting molds, for example for mega- or giga-casting.
Citește mai multBÖHLER 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.
Citește mai multBÖHLER W400 VMR is a vacuum remelted material specially developed for tools with complex structures. The steel can be assigned to the 5% chromium steels and has a very high purity due to the special manufacturing technology. Because of its high degree of purity, the excellent homogeneity and the special alloying concept, BÖHLER W400 VMR is one of the hot work tool steels with the highest reachable toughness values. Therefore, this material is a problem solver in many areas when standard grades are no longer sufficient. In addition, Böhler W400 VMR has outstanding polishability. For this reason, the steel is also popular as a molding material for plastic injection molds.
Citește mai multBÖHLER 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.
Citește mai multBÖHLER W720 VMR is not a classic hot work tool steel, but an ultra-high strength maraging steel. Compared to quenched and tempered steels, the material generates its high strength not through a hardened and tempered martensitic structure with a high carbon content and secondary hardening carbides, but through the precipitation of intermetallic phases from a tough nickel martensitic matrix. BÖHLER W720 VMR corresponds to material number 1.6358 (X2NiCoMoTi18-9-5) and has proven to be ideally suited for many tool steel applications in cold and hot work (e.g., for extrusion stems) up to 450 °C.
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