Together with the R&D team at Gestamp hardtech, Infrasonik developed a completely new cooling process for a press hardening process
In press hardening, steel blanks are heated in a furnace to approximately 900–950°C before being transferred to a forming press, where rapid cooling determines the final material properties.
The transfer distance between furnace and press is typically short — in this case approximately one meter — but the thermal conditions during this short transport phase are critical.
Gestamp HardTech identified an opportunity:
If the temperature of the blank could be reduced in this transfer zone before entering the press, they could:
To explore a new approach, Gestamp partnered with Infrasonik.
The cooling window between furnace and press is extremely limited in both time and space. Conventional airflow systems struggle to generate sufficient and uniform heat transfer within such a compact section of the line.
Key requirements included:
The solution had to fit seamlessly into an already optimized high-speed production environment.
Infrasonik implemented high-intensity infrasound to actively enhance convective heat transfer in the transfer zone.
By generating particle velocities of up to 75 m/s, the infrasonic system intensified gas movement at the material surface, disrupting the thermal boundary layer and accelerating heat removal — without increasing mechanical airflow or adding complex moving components.
Unlike conventional air systems, the infrasonic field created:
This resulted in the development of a completely new cooling concept integrated into the transfer stage of the press hardening process.
The collaboration demonstrated that infrasonic cooling in the transfer zone could:
Even cooling was a particularly important outcome, as temperature gradients can affect final material properties and process stability.
