1. Market Background

In aluminum extrusion, dies are expensive and need frequent changes. Once the working surface is worn or fatigued, profile dimensional accuracy and surface quality are directly affected. Many extrusion plants in Iraq previously relied on simple quenching and tempering, which provided limited surface hardness and fatigue strength. As a result, die life was short, changeover frequency was high, and overall production costs remained elevated.

2. Customer & Application Scenario

The customer in this case is an extrusion plant serving the building profile market. While its line throughput is moderate, it uses many die sizes and faces rapidly changing orders. With only basic heat treatment, the die working zone suffered fast wear and unstable nitrided case depth and hardness distribution, which led to dimensional variations and fluctuating extrusion force on certain profile batches. The customer needed a dedicated nitriding furnace to carry out stable gas nitriding for extrusion dies, extending die life and reducing total die cost.

3. Our Solution (Product & Specifications)

The proposed system is a 60 kW nitriding furnace with an effective size of Φ700×900 mm, designed for multiple medium-sized dies per batch. It provides:

• 60 kW power for balanced heating rate and energy usage;

• An effective diameter and height of Φ700×900 mm to fit common extrusion die dimensions;

• Multi-segment programmable cycles for heating, soaking and cooling;

• Atmosphere control for tuning nitriding potential and matching surface hardness with case depth.

This allows the customer to tailor nitriding recipes to different die steels, giving the working zone a hard, wear-resistant surface while retaining sufficient toughness in the core to avoid brittle failures.

4. Customer Feedback

After a period of operation, the customer reported a significant increase in die life, with some critical dies staying in service for more than one additional maintenance cycle compared with the old process. Wear on the die surface became more uniform, cracking was delayed, and extrusion pressure fluctuations decreased, improving profile dimensional stability.
With the Φ700×900 mm furnace volume, multiple dies can be treated in a single batch. Nitriding cycles are easier to align with die maintenance schedules, reducing the need to dedicate full cycles to just one die and improving overall efficiency.

5. Conclusion

For aluminum extrusion plants in Iraq that are expanding capacity, adding a properly sized 60 kW nitriding furnace with adjustable process recipes is a practical way to cut total die costs and stabilize profile quality. This case shows that a nitriding system optimized for extrusion dies can deliver tangible improvements in die life and process stability without overcomplicating day-to-day operation.