Energy production

A success thanks to the elastoforming

Inoxveneta has successfully applied the elastoforming process of AISI309 (EN 1.4828) heat-resistant stainless steel for the energy production sector.

Within the energy production the reliability factor is particularly critical, since the burners are installed in power plants all over the world, often working under extreme conditions.

Client problems and needs

Our Client asked us to evaluate the feasibility of producing AISI309 swirler blades for large gas-fired generators. This austenitic stainless steel is particularly resilient at high temperatures but is also quite difficult to work.

Indeed, our Client had already used traditional forming techniques such as bending and stamping, but had difficulty in producing the blades to design and came across reliability and efficiency issues in the burners. It is obvious that reliability is paramount in such large installations, often operating in extreme ambient conditions in sites all over the world.

Our solution: elastoforming process

Inoxveneta solved the production issues implementing the elastoforming production process by

• analysing the formability characteristics of the base material
• designing a specific set of elastoforming tools
• tuning the tools to get production up and running

All was up and running in a surprisingly short lead time.
The Client was fully satisfied as the blades manufactured by Inoxveneta fully responded to project requirements by guaranteeing repetitive production lots, simplified assembly, reduced total cost and improved product reliability.