Annealing plant
AssigneeMaschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH & Co. KG
InventorsBernd Lohmüller, Rainer Vockentanz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An annealing apparatus for annealing metallic billets, particularly for use in annealing aluminum-containing billets, comprising at least two contact elements or contact discs made of electrically conducting material, the contact elements being connected to a voltage source so as to provide electric current flow through the billet as it passes between the two contact elements. The material of the contact elements is a light metal, normally aluminum or an aluminum-containing alloy, such that the contact element material is matched to the material of the billet and diffusion of the billet material into the contact element is substantially avoided.
Claims28
Annealing apparatus for annealing metallic billets, comprising at least two contact elements made of electrically conducting material which are electrically connected to a voltage source and which receive a billet of a light metal or a light metal alloy in the form of at least one metallic wire, in such a manner that said billet moves relative to said contact element and an electric current flows through said billet between said elements, the material of at least one contact element is a metal alloy which is adapted to the material of said billet such that substantially no material from said billet diffuses into said contact element, at least one cold-processing means comprising at least one drawing die through which said billet is drawn by a draw plate, wherein said draw plate is the first contact element in the material flow direction behind the cold processing means, and
- a transport track for moving said billet through the apparatus, wherein a section of said transport track is provided with protective gas.
Annealing apparatus for aluminum-containing billets, comprising at least two contact elements made of electrically conducting material which are electrically connected to a voltage source and which receive a billet in such a manner that said billet moves relative to said contact element and an electric current flows through said billet between said contact elements, the material of at least one contact element is one of aluminum and an aluminum alloy into which substantially no material from said billet diffuses, and further comprises at least one cold-processing means comprising at least one drawing die through which said billet is drawn by a draw plate, wherein said draw plate is the first contact element in the material flow direction behind the cold-processing means, and
- a transport track for moving said billet through the apparatus, wherein a section of said transport track is provided with protective gas.
Method of manufacturing a metallic, low-stress billet comprising the steps of:
- transporting a billet, in the form of at least one metallic wire, along a transport track, such that said billet comes into contact with at least two contact elements, which are connected to a voltage source, in at least one predetermined section of said transport track;
- cold-forming of said at least one metallic wire by means of a cold-processing device having at least one drawing die and a draw plate applying a drawing force, said draw plate being used as the first contact element in the material flow direction behind the cold-processing means;
- allowing an electrical current to flow through a segment of said billet between said contact elements during the transport of said billet;
- and
- selecting the material of said contact elements to contain one of aluminum and an aluminum alloy to match to the material of said billet, such that substantially no embrittlement or diffusion arises between the contact element material and the billet material during transport of said billet, or during the flowing of the current through said billet;
- wherein the flow of said electrical current through said billet causes said billet to be annealed at low stress, and wherein the annealing is performed in a protective gas atmosphere.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.