Extrusions

 
PROCESS

Aluminium is squeezed through a shaped opening with the aid of a powerful hydraulic press, producing an incredible variety of useful products with almost any shape imaginable.

PRESSURE APPLIED

The actual extrusion process begins when the press ram starts applying pressure to the billet within a container. Hydraulic presses can exert from 100 tons to 15,000 tons of pressure; the pressure capacity of a specific press determines how large an extrusion it can produce.

TAKING SHAPE

As pressure is applied, the billet is first crushed against the die, becoming shorter and wider until its expansion is restricted by the container walls. Then, as the pressure increases, the soft (but still solid) aluminum has no place else to go and begins to squeeze out through the shaped die to emerge on the other side as a fully formed profile.

COOLING AND AGEING

The formed profile is cut off at the die and the remainder of the metal is removed to be recycled. After it leaves the die, the still-hot extrusion may be quenched, mechanically treated, and aged to impart desired metallurgical properties and physical performance.

FINISHING PROCESS

After sufficient aging, whether in an aging oven or at room temperature, the profiles are moved to other areas of the plant and may be finished (painted or anodized), fabricated (cut, machined, bent, welded, assembled), or packed for shipment.