How to Make Aluminum Extrusions
Extrusions are linear products with a fixed cross-section, or profile. The material characteristics of aluminum alloys make them a preferred metal for the extrusion process. Extruded aluminum shapes are used to create door and window frames, curtain walls for commercial buildings and square and round tubular shapes.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Billet-heating furnace
- Extruding press
- Stretching racks
- Transfer tables
- Quenching vats
- Trimming and packaging area
Instructions
-
-
1
Design the cross-sectional product you wish to extrude. Create an extruding die by machining the desired cross-section in hardened steel. This is a specialized process commonly performed by tool-making firms. This will be an in-house service offered by many large extruding firms. The die may be machined for a single cross-section or in multiple shapes. Your die design, and the actual dies, will be yours unless you make other arrangements with an extruding service. Simple extrusion dies may range in cost from $500 to $5,000 as of time of publication.
-
2
Select the aluminum alloy that will provide the finished properties your extruded product will require. Consult with a supplier of aluminum billets for help in making this determination. Preheat the billets in a billet-heating furnace to soften the billet for pushing through the extrusion dies. Typical extruding temperature for aluminum is 650 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Feed the billet to the head of the extruding machine.
-
-
3
Push the softened billet through an extruding die mounted in a horizontally mounted hydraulic extrusion press. The preheated aluminum billet is forced through the die plate onto a receiving table. Extrusion presses cost $100,000 or more.
-
4
Transfer the extruded shapes to a stretching machine while still warm. Stretch the extruded sections to straighten them to linear uniformity. Cool the linear sections in a quenching and cooling system. Transfer the cooled sections for final trimming to size, packaging and storing.
-
1
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Polka Dot Images/Polka Dot/Getty Images
