In 1941, France-based Cefival produced the first steel extruded product in the world using the glass lubrication process invented by Jacques Sejournet. Once the lubrication process was granted a patent in 1946, Cefival began manufacturing its hot extruded products at the Persan plant in France. Today, Cefival remains a world leader in the processing of special steels, stainless steels, superalloys, and titanium near-net shapes and tubes using hot extrusion and engine rings with flash butt welded technology. Over the last two decades, the company has specialised in the engineering and production of hot extruded components for the aerospace and power generation markets with shapes, tubes, and engine rings.

“The ability to reduce costs is the cornerstone of our solutions. Especially in the aerospace industry, where commonly used materials, including nickel alloy, titanium, and more are expensive. Our hot extrusion process empowers you to achieve your designs with significant cost savings,” states Pierre Münch, CEO of Cefival. The company provides customised steel profile solutions. That means the near-net cross-section of these profiles allows for huge raw material savings, thus reducing the Buy-to-Fly ratio (BTF) crucial to aerospace companies. As a result, even small volumes can be produced with minimal tooling costs.

Cefival offers an individual solution to continuously improve BTF. The hot extrusion process makes it likely to reach the closest near-net-shape possible before machining, meaning best shape properties and fitting accuracy by the maintenance of the tightest tolerances. Furthermore, different material thicknesses within one profile cross-section allow specific reinforcement of highly stressed segments of structural components. By choosing an optimum cross-section, machining can be minimised alongside weight and cost savings.

Cefival’s BTF reaches three, which is about the same level as 3D printing, while that of normal forging processes would reach as high as nine

Besides, Cefival’s extrusion press is the most modern in the market, built by constantly taking into account the tolerance requests of their customers. “Therefore, our press is extremely compact and ensures the tightest tolerances in the market, which, in turn, enables us to reach outstanding minimum thickness on our final shapes,” explains Münch. Cefival’s BTF reaches three, which is about the same level as 3D printing, while that of a normal forging process would reach as high as nine. Notably, Cefival is the only company in the world to offer super thin near-net shapes for the aerostructure market. Even Airbus and Boeing have launched dedicated teams to study Cefival’s process and improve the design of their parts before machining, which clearly validates the efficacy of the company’s offerings.

Cefival belongs to Siderval, an Italian company that is apart of the Italian group Calvi Holding SpA/Calvi Network, a global leader in the metallurgical industry. Cefival enjoys close links with its Calvi Network sister companies specialising in the hot extrusion of special profiles, namely the Italian Siderval SpA and the German Hoesch Schwerter Extruded Profiles GmbH. Together, the three companies, collectively comprising the Calvi Network’s Hot Extrusion Business Unit, are a global leader in the engineering and manufacture of hot extruded customised steel profiles. They work to generate synergies within the value chain to develop innovative and competitive products.

Apart from working with Boeing and Airbus partners, Cefival has a consistent market share across Europe. The company is now planning to expand into Japan and the US with new products and capabilities. “As Airbus and Boeing now have dedicated teams for extrusion, they are looking at new parts that could be extruded. We look forward to capitalising on this opportunity in addition to partnering with more tier-1 suppliers. Above all, we still have to make ourselves known—to work harder for customers to understand that we’re not working to make the highest profit but to build the best cost-effective solution for them,” concludes Münch.