The Evolution of the Smart Container: Achieving Isothermal Control in Extrusion

摘要

For many years, one of the major goals of the aluminum extrusion industry has been the achievement of isothermal extrusion, a quest that has inspired a variety of solutions, usually involving taper heating or quenching of billet with several attempts made to control temperature in the container. The decades long development that has resulted in the market introduction of the Smart Container by Marx GmbH & Co. KG of Iserlohn, Germany-now partnered with Lake Park Tool & Machine, Inc. of Youngstown, OH, U.S.-offers extruders an optimal and robust solution to not only achieve isothermal extrusion, with all the attendant quality benefits, but also increase press productivity and gain longer container and tool life. At the recently held ET '08, the ceo of the Marx company Wolfgang Eckenbach, one of the principal developers of the Smart Container, presented a paper on the subject entitled, "Process Controlled Containers-Smart Containers," which has received wide attention, especially in view of the recent announcement of a Lake Park/ Marx partnership. In this article, a summary is presented of the development of the Smart Container along with details of its use in extrusion plants in Europe, Asia, and the U.S.