Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research (IC&SR) , IIT Madras
Micro-extrusion Apparatus
Categories for this Invention
Category: Advance Material & Manufacturing /Assistive, Test Equipment & Design Manufacturing
Industry: Manufacturing/Chemical.
Application: Miniaturized metal components used in cameras, vehicle engines, mobile phones, biomedical applications etc.
Market: The global market size of manufacturing to grow from USD 68.51 Billion in 2023 to USD 121.76 Billion by 2033, (CAGR) of 5.92% during the projected period.
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Problem Statement
- The applicability of miniaturized metal components in mechanical, optical, and electrical systems has increased immensely in the last decade.
- In view of manufacturing bulk micro parts, micro-extrusion is an emerging route to produce symmetric micro parts.
- Micro-extrusion is a subcategory of micro-forming processes & at least one dimension of the resulting product manufactured by the micro-extrusion process must be less than 1mm.
- There are significant challenges in designing high-temperature micro-extrusion apparatus, such as maintaining tight dimensional tolerances, reduced accuracy due to thermal expansion in the apparatus’s parts.
- There is a need to develop a high-precision temperature-controlled micro-extrusion apparatus
Technology
- The micro extrusion apparatus, with a modular tool designed for micro-extrusion to accommodate both backward and forward micro-extrusion processes for manufacturing a micro extruded product.
- A die holder is coupled to the bottom plate for mounting a die assembly , the die assembly comprising a billet slot for fixedly accommodating a metal billet.
- A punch holder is coupled to the top plate for mounting a punch .
- A heating assembly is configured to heat the metal billet to a pre-determined temperature. A cooling assembly is configured to maintain the temperature of the bottom plate and the base plate at room temperature.
The heating assembly heats the metal billet accommodated in the billet slot of the die assembly to the pre-determined temperature and the punch moves into the billet slot to extrude the metal billet in the form of the micro-extruded product and a solid block die is used with no scope of material leakage during the micro extrusion operation.
Key Features / Value Proposition
- Operated at high temperature upto 500°c.
- Maintaining tight dimensional tolerances, optimum accuracy.
- No gravitational pull acting on the billet & the billet rests inside the die as the punch advances towards the billet
- Resists thermal expansion in the apparatus parts.
- Satisfactory surface finish, lesser defects, negligible thermal expansion of tool parts, close dimensional tolerances, and proper lubrication.
- Two unique sample ejection systems are provided for micro backward extrusion and for micro forward extrusion.
- Resultant product that is easier in both sample handling and sample ejection.
- Perform micro extrusion on a wide range of metallic materials including difficult to deform materials such as Age hardenable Al alloys and Mg alloys.
- Tool design is integrated with a cooling channel to maintain near-room temperature conditions in all other tool parts except the die. This improves the tool’s life and cost effective.
- Capability to produce different size of micropin and microcup both at room temperature and at high temperature.
Questions about this Technology?
Contact For Licensing
sm-marketing@imail.iitm.ac.in
ipoffice2@iitm.ac.in
Research Lab
Prof. Sushanta Kumar Panigrahi
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Intellectual Property
IITM IDF Ref. 2288
Patent No: IN 530959
Technology Readiness Level
TRL – 4
Technology validated in lab scale.