The extrusion of copper tubes and profiles requires uniform and precise heating of the raw material to ensure an optimum pressing process and a high quality of the end product. The starting material, copper of various alloys, is usually fed into the process in the form of billets. The heating can take place in gas furnaces as well as in induction systems, whereby hybrid forms are often used and therefore the advantages of both energy sources are used. The cost advantage of gas over electricity is used for basic heating, while induction systems are used to set the final temperature precisely. IAS jointly with the sister company OMAV SpA can offer optimum matched combinations of gas and induction furnaces.

In addition to basic heating in a gas furnace, the use of an induction multi-billet furnace can also be an economically reasonable alternative, in which billets are pushed by means of a hydraulic cylinder as a closed column of material through several coils arranged one behind the other. The length of the coil section depends on the required throughput and is also heavily dependent on the billet diameter, the alloy and the temperature requirements.

In a single-billet furnace, which can be used either for the final heating after basic heating consisting of a gas furnace or induction system or as the only heating solution, there is always only one billet in a coil that is specially tailored to the billet geometry. Depending on the requirements, the coil is divided into several zones and enables precise power and temperature control depending on the extrusion process.