Impact Extrusion
Impact extrusion is a cold metal forming process that is used to make collapsible tubes out of soft metals through the tool and die process. During impact extrusion, soft metal materials such as aluminum, tin, and lead are placed in a die, where they are extruded into a specified form through impact with a punch, or ram.
The collapsible tubes produced by impact extrusion are used in various industries, including automotive, electrical, electronics, pyrotechnics, and packaging. They can be used in complex mechanisms, like the air bags in a car, or in simple applications, as in the packaging of toothpaste.
Unlike traditional metalworking processes, impact extrusion does not use heat to shape metal. Instead, high pressure is applied to the metal blank in order to form a collapsible tube; this force must exceed the material's elastic limit in order to make the metal flexible.
Because the impact extrusion process does not cut away material in order to form the metal part, it is an efficient process that results in a minimum amount of wasted product.