What is electric upsetting?

In electric upsetting, or E-upsetting, heating and forming are combined in a parallel process within a single machine. This significantly increases the achievable upsetting ratios that can be achieved in just one continuous forming operation – up to 20 times the initial diameter. The process is therefore particularly suitable for initial mass pre-distribution. The component is clamped locally between two electrodes and heated conductively by direct current flow. Once the forming temperature has been reached, the forming process begins as additional material is fed into the heated zone.

The material already at temperature starts to upset, creating the required local accumulation of volume. Das bereits erwärmte Material beginnt zur gewünschten Volumenanhäfung aufzustauchen. Dabei wird kontinuierlich weiter Material nachgeführt, das sich dann ebenfalls stromdurchflossenen Bereich erwärmt. Further material is continuously fed into the current-carrying area, where it is heated in turn and subsequently enters the upsetting process. Heating therefore continues throughout the forming operation until the required material accumulation has been created This continuous heating and upsetting process allows almost any material accumulation and upsetting length to be produced on bars and tubes in a single stage. E-upsetting can be used for all standard steels and non-ferrous metals as well as special materials such as high-temperature nickel-based alloys.

Conductive heating “just in time” and “just in place” reduces the tendency to scale while ensuring maximum energy efficiency. After the initial mass distribution, final shaping can be carried out directly in the same heat using a conventional closed-die forging process

Although cycle times are comparatively long, tooling costs are comparatively low. E-upsetting is therefore a particularly attractive and economical production approach for rapid initial prototypes and/or small series. For high-volume production, several machines may be operated in parallel. In addition to development, testing and prototype manufacture, we offer contract manufacturing for small to medium-sized series. Several horizontal E-upsetting machines are available for processing bar diameters from 14 to 36 mm; larger tube dimensions are also possible depending on the relevant cross-sectional area Depending on the order volume, our systems operate manually, semi-automatically or fully automatically.