Aluminum and its aluminum alloys are widely used in various industries due to their excellent characteristics. Aluminum processing can make aluminum ingots into aluminum products that can be used directly. Aluminum extrusion, aluminum rolling, and aluminum forging are the most common methods of aluminum processing.
Extrusion processing occupies a special position in the aluminum industrial system. Industrial production is constantly improving, and users have higher requirements for the shape, surface, and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy products. Compared with other processing, such as rolling and forging, the extrusion process has greater advantages and reliability.
- During the extrusion process, the extruded metal can obtain a more intense and uniform three-way compression stress, which provides good plasticity of the metal. Therefore, the extrusion method can be used to fabricate low-plasticity and difficult-to-deform metals or alloys that are difficult or even impossible to be processed by rolling or forging. At present, extrusion is still the most superior method that can directly produce aluminum products from ingots.
- The extrusion process can not only produce standard products such as tubes, rods, channels, angles, etc., which with simple cross-sectional shapes, but also produce hollow and solid profiles with extremely complex shapes. It is difficult or even impossible to produce such aluminum products by rolling or other processing methods. These special custom shaped profiles can simplify the complex processes later on, such as cold forming, riveting, cutting, and chemical milling, which can reduce equipment investment, improve metal utilization, and reduce the total cost.
- Extrusion processing is very flexible. It only needs to change the mold to produce products with different shapes, specifications, and varieties on one equipment. The operation of replacing the extrusion tool is simple and easy. This processing method is the most economical and suitable for processing parts with small order quantities and many specifications.
- The surface quality of extruded products is also better. The current extrusion process can produce high-precision, high-quality surface profiles. This greatly reduces the total works and simplifies the follow-up processes.
- One-time extrusion can obtain an overall structural part than forging or forming rolling.
Although the extrusion speed is lower than the rolling speed and the production efficiency is low, the extrusion is still a very good processing method to ensure product quality and comprehensive benefits.