Each material requires the right forging technology
Mecolpress hydraulic, mechanical, and screw presses for hot forging of brass, aluminum, and stainless steel
Brass, aluminum, and stainless steel require different forging technologies. Mecolpress, with over 50 years of experience in hot forging metals and alloys, offers the most suitable solution according to the material, component geometry, and required productivity.
Mecolpress can propose three different technologies:
ME hydraulic presses
Mecolpress hydraulic presses reach up to 500 tons of dies clamping force and can be configured with four horizontal punches, up to 350 tons, and one vertical punch.
They are particularly suitable for forging complex-shaped brass and aluminum components, flash and with deep holes pre-forming
SEO and Heavy mechanical eccentric presses
Mecolpress mechanical presses have capacities of up to 600 tons and can be equipped with hydraulic cushions of up to 120 tons.
They are suitable for the high-productivity forging of brass and aluminum components, with speeds of up to 40 strokes per minute.
TDS and FDS screw presses
Mecolpress screw presses are designed for forging steel, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and other special alloys.
They are particularly suitable for components with complex geometries, thin thicknesses, and for processes requiring high deformation energies.
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Efficiency and process control
Mecolpress technologies are designed to improve productivity, efficiency and control of the forging line.
Among the main advantages:
- reduced energy consumption, thanks to modern electronic and hydraulic power management systems;
- high production capacity, thanks to short cycles, multi-cavity dies, and process automation;
- control of forging parameters through Calipso software;
- reduced setup times, thanks to quick dies changing systems;
- remote and on-site assistance and availability of spare parts to ensure production continuity.
The Calipso software allows to collect and monitor the main press parameters during each forging cycle, comparing them with the set values and contributing to improve process quality control.
How the forging process changes depending on the material
Material types influence temperature, required force, dies design, and process parameters.
Brass features high ductility and good hot fluidity, with a relatively wide thermal window and generally low risk of cracking.
The forging temperature is approximately between 650 and 750°C, depending on the alloy.
It allows for short cycles, high productivity, and the creation of complex shapes and deep holes. It is widely used in the production of fittings, valves, hydraulic components, and complex parts produced in large quantities.
Depending on the component and the required productivity, Mecolpress can offer ME hydraulic presses or SEO and HEAVY mechanical presses.
Alluminum
Aluminum offers good deformability but requires more precise thermal control.
The process temperature for the most common forging alloys is approximately 430 to 500°C.
The 6000 series alloys generally have good forgeability, while some 7000 series alloys require more attention during the process.
Aluminum offers an excellent strength-to-weight ratio and is particularly used in the automotive, aeronautics, and transportation sectors.
Depending on the alloy, geometry, and production volume, it can be processed with hydraulic presses, mechanical presses, or screw presses.
Stainless steel
Stainless steel offers greater resistance to deformation, even at high temperatures, and therefore requires higher pressing forces and particularly robust dies.
The forging temperature is approximately between 900 and 1,200°C, depending on the alloy.
It guarantees high mechanical strength and excellent corrosion resistance, making it particularly suitable for the food, medical, chemical, and structural industries.
For these processes, Mecolpress primarily offers its screw presses.
Brass, aluminum, and stainless steel compared
| Material | Hot forgeability | Process temperature | Indicative mechanical resistance | Corrosion resistance | Process complexity |
| Brass | High | 650–750 °C | 300–400 MPa | Good | Low |
| Alluminum | Good | 430–500 °C | 250–450 MPa | Optimal | Medium |
| Stainless steel | More challenging | 900–1.200 °C | 550–600 MPa | Excellent | High |
The values shown are indicative and may vary depending on the alloy, the geometry of the component and the process used.
Mecolpress technology for each material
Each material presents specific forging requirements.
Mecolpress combines hydraulic presses, mechanical presses, screw presses, automation, and Calipso software to identify the best solution for the material, component, and customer production objectives.
Contact Mecolpress to identify the most suitable technology for your forging process
The Mecolpress team is available to provide a customized technical analysis.
📩 Contact us through our website: www.mecolpress.com
Forge gate valves with a ME Hydraulic press!
In this video you can see the hot forging of gate valves with a ME hydraulic press.
Go beyond the normal criticality of the forging of these valves, get a piece without flash and reduce production costs.
What are gate valves and how they are traditionally forged?
The brass or other materials gate valves have the function of fluid flow adjusting and stopping onto a tube. They fulfil this control through a hand wheel (or a motorized actuator).
To give you an idea, you can compare the function of the mentioned valve to the closing of a gate slide in the middle of a tunnel flooded by the water.
Usually the gate valves are hot forged through traditional eccentric mechanical presses, but their realization is not easy, above all if you want to forge the part without possible defects, using little material (therefore with the most possible depth of all the holes) or without flash as well.
The traditional forging of gate valves by means of eccentric mechanical presses requires a greater energy compared to the one necessary for forging of ball valves having the same dimensions, and it requires a much higher punches stroke, in particular for one of them.
For example, for the realization of gate valves of 2 inches or more, eccentric mechanical presses of minimum 450 tons capacity and a forging tool (defined as bell tool) that allows the realization of holes of great diameter are normally used.
This technology has been valid and successfully used for many years, and Mecolpress as well proposes it to its customers through its SEO and SEO CVE CS presses series.
Gate valves forged by means of hydraulic presses
There is also a much more efficient way for gate valves hot forging: ME hydraulic press.
ME hydraulic presses, in fact, thanks to the different working dynamics of the punches, are proving to be really decisive for all the forgings of more “problematic” and complex parts, consenting for example to avoid the use of EV bell tool.
As we show in this video by means of ME presses you can forge high quality gate valves, without flash, detail of great importance. The presence of flash in the forged parts implicates a considerable waste of material, and moreover, to remove it, it is necessary to use a trimming press, which means therefore that you will have to equip yourself with an additional machine.
Another interesting aspect to be underlined is the fact that hydraulic presses have a cycle frequency significantly higher than normal mechanical presses.
Our ME hydraulic presses have also as standard equipment the Calipso software, our innovative program for collecting and checking forging data. Through this intelligent system you can perform analyses of the production process, but not only! In fact, it is possible to obtain an optimal and separate management of any pieces to be discarded or otherwise to be evaluated.
The checking of the pieces carried out by Calipso guarantees the certified quality of each piece produced.
Another important advantage that is standard on our ME hydraulic presses is the innovative die lubrication system, that can also be optionally applied to eccentric continuous cycle presses. In hot forging it is important not to underestimate the way in which the dies are lubricated; finding the “perfect” lubrication in your forging process ensures an increase in the life of the dies and materials unattainable with traditional systems!
The ME hydraulic press has an innovative forging system compared to traditional mechanical presses. Innovative because, for example, it does not generate mechanical shocks, it considerably reduces the noise generated during production, the tooling is much faster and more convenient.
Here is the video of the forged gate valves with ME hydraulic press:
The advantages of using hydraulic presses in gate valves hot forging
In summary, why should you choose a hydraulic press to forge gate valves?
- No bell EV tool,
- Gate valve without flash,
- Forged pieces controlled by the powerful Calipso software,
- Separate management of non-compliant parts,
- Better forging lubrication system,
- No mechanical shock,
- Less noise,
- More setup speed.
The technology of the shape
The importance of the shape in the industrial applications
The hydraulic presses manufactured by Mecolpress are able to produce extremely high precision parts, that fully respect the characteristics of the shape originally thought by the designers. This allows to create products of very high complexity like the hydrogen-powered car, that is based on components with the lowest tolerances and on shapes that match each other with highest precision.
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The hot forging of materials allows, more than any other technology, to obtain perfect shapes and with high resistance, that can be employed in excellence productions.
Mecolpress is a leader in the manufacturing of mechanical and hydraulic presses as well as in the consulting services to use the hot forging technologies for the precision of the shape.
What would be of the technological progress without the shape technologies?
The history of the mankind shows that the research of always better performing and innovative solutions has lead to an accurate care of the details in the production of a perfect shape, in the mechanic industry as well as in the hydraulic, medical technic and building sector ones.
The Shape Forming Technology is also the title of this permanent blog, that Mecolpress issues and updates with the purpose to highlight the need of research and investments for the well-being of the people.
The mechanic of Mecolpress is dedicated to the shape forming technology to provide its customers with the abilities of producing in an always more precise and efficient way.
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