Page 24 - MetalForming September 2010

Whirlpool Pressroom
Goes Green
The switch to a VOC-free lubricant reduces consumption while improving the pressroom environment—an operations and management honeymoon that should last a lifetime.
One of the world’s
largest appliance
manufacturers did not hesitate
to jump at the opportunity to take advantage of a new vanishing oil devel- oped for lubricating stamping dies. Since late in 2009, the Whirlpool Corp. plant in Amana, IA, has been using a VOC-free lubricant (Saf-T-Vanish, from Tower Oil & Technology Co.) in place of a conventional vanishing oil made with a hydrocarbon petroleum distillate.
VOCs contribute to indoor air pol- lution, smog and ozone, and some areas of the United States have been classified by the Clean Air Act as “ozone non-attain- ment areas,” where VOC emissions are strictly regulated and require costly reporting and permitting. Along with this major environmental feature, Saf-T- Vanish also has proven to be more oper- ator friendly and offer improved lubric- ity, say Whirlpool officials, and it dries faster than did its conventional vanish- ing oil, while also being nonflammable.
Four Years in the Making
Tower Oil began to develop the new lubricant early in 2006 in an effort to
find a replacement
for petroleum distillates used in vanishing oils. The efforts paid off when, on January 1, 2010, Rule 1144 in Southern California went into effect banning the use of vanishing oils whose VOC content exceeds 50 grams/l and rust preventives whose VOC content exceeds 300 gram/l.
Whirlpool had been using a con- ventional vanishing oil in its metal stamping department for more than 40 years. When Saf-T-Vanish became commercially available in mid 2009, the Amana plant quickly set up a trial run. Two of the most critical and high- production progressive dies were selected for initial evaluation of the new lubricant. One of the first obser- vations: The lube evaporates more quickly than did the previous vanish- ing oil. And, its lubricity also was bet- ter, allowing the plant to reduce the fre- quency of its spray application. As a result, less lubricant is required to
The
Whirlpool
refrigerator
plant uses its new vanishing oil in presses up to 800 tons on progressive dies running hot-rolled steel as thick 0.090 in., electrogalvanized steel (shown here) 0.015 to 0.045 in., and 0.035-in. aluminum.
achieve the same sheetmetal flow and die protection.
The press test proved successful, with both dies running high-quality parts at the required production rate without scrap. And, press operators liked the new lube. Piece parts made with Saf-T- Vanish were run through the entire manufacturing process without any issues, and management decided to switch lubricants.
Since then, the plant has significantly
20 METALFORMING / SEPTEMBER 2010
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