Abstract:
In the manufacture of copper tubes by hydrostatic extrusion, a tubular billet is inserted in an extrusion press and extruded through a gap between a die and a mandrel to form a tube having the desired cross-section by hydrostatic pressure. The tube which is formed is led to a cooling zone at such a distance from the extrusion press that the time between shaping and cooling exceeds the recrystallization time required for annealing copper. The extruded tube is surrounded by an inert gas within a conductor tube during the passage from the press to the cooling zone.