Aluminum Company of America

James E Knepp

James A Miller

Robert E Welsh

Raymond Miller

William G Johnston

Myron J Jursich

The invention includes apparatus and method for lubricating and cooling a workpiece, dies or ironing rings, and punch at the interface between the workpiece and such dies or ironing rings and punch in forming a workpiece into a hollow closed end cylindrical article. A lubricant liquid phase is injected into a coolant liquid phase to form a 'dispersion' prior to application to the metal-tool interface. Providing the lubricant as a dispersion in the coolant liquid phase rather than as an emulsion provides several advantages. The quantity of lubricant and the time of lubricant injection can be varied to control lubricity and, thus, friction. The invention makes it possible to achieve differential friction in the ironing process by having higher lubricity on the ironing die (low friction) and lower lubricity on the punch surface (high friction). Lubricities and cooling are controllable for the specific metal forming process employed to produce closed end hollow body containers. After applicaiton, the lubricant and coolant are separated, the lubricant filtered to remove debris, stored, and then reinjected to provide lubrication for the process.

Apparatus and method for lubricating and cooling in a draw and iron press

A synthetic metal working lubricant characterized by an absence of mineral oil and dispersible in water comprises an alkanolamine such as triethanolamine, a 12 to 18 carbon aliphatic acid, such as oleic acid, and a water-dispersible or miscible polyoxyalkylene alcohol. The lubricant may optionally also contain an aliphatic carboxylic acid ester or diester. The resulting lubricant can be disposed of in accordance with existing EPA regulations on amounts of effluent extractable with hexane in comparison with prior art mineral oil based lubricants.

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Plum Borough, PA, United States of America

James E Knepp