Aluminum products such as fasteners and automotive components are often produced by cold extrusion because it facilitates high volume production of near-net-shape parts. This article describes the cold extrusion process for aluminum alloys and the associated requirements for tooling, dies, punches, and other equipment. It covers typical tool materials and their working properties, and provides best practices for sizing aluminum slugs and preparing them for use. The article also discusses the wide range of achievable shapes from shallow cup-like extrusions to deep cups and complex parts with longitudinal flutes, stems, and grooves.

Aluminum and aluminum alloys are very suitable for extrusion and many types of profiles can be produced from easily extrudable alloys. This article lists the basic characteristics of aluminum and its alloys. It tabulates the aluminum extrusion alloys by series and lists the typical applications for 6xxx series aluminum extrusions. The article discusses three broad categories of extrusion profiles: solid profile, hollow profile, and semi hollow profile. It provides information on weldability and machinability, which are often considered in profile design and product performance. The article discusses different aluminum extrusion processes, such as the direct extrusion process and the indirect extrusion process. It schematically illustrates the plotting of flow stress and extrudability for several types of aluminum alloys. The article concludes with information on the heat treatment and precipitation hardening for alloys, such as 2xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx.

Hot extrusion is a process in which wrought parts are formed by forcing a heated billet through a shaped die opening. This article discusses nonlubricated and lubricated hot extrusion. The two nonlubricated hot extrusion methods are forward or direct extrusion and backward or indirect extrusion. The article illustrates the significance of extrusion speeds and temperatures in hot extrusion. It describes the basic types of presses used in the hot extrusion of metals. The article provides information on the characterization of extruded shapes and explains the operating parameters, including extrusion velocity, amount of pressure required, and type of lubricant, for successful and efficient hot extrusion. The article concludes with a discussion on applications and design methodology that provides insight into CAD/CAM of extrusion dies.

Aluminum, the second most plentiful metallic element, is an economic competitor in various applications owing to its appearance, light weight, fabricability, physical properties, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance. This article discusses the primary and secondary production of aluminum and classification system for cast and wrought aluminum alloys. It talks about various manufactured forms of aluminum and its alloys, which are classified into standardized products such as sheet, plate, foil, rod, bar, wire, tube, pipe, and structural forms, and engineered products such as extruded shapes, forgings, impacts, castings, stampings, powder metallurgy parts, machined parts, and metal-matrix composites. The article also reviews important fabrication characteristics in the machining, forming, forging, and joining of aluminum alloys. It concludes with a description of the major industrial applications of aluminum, including building and construction, transportation, consumer durables, electrical, machinery and equipment, containers and packaging, and other applications.

This article introduces the basic characteristics, processes, and product forms associated with the five major categories of aluminum wrought products, namely, flat-rolled products (sheet, plate, and foil); rod, bar, and wire; tubular products; profiles; and forgings. It summarizes the various product forms in which commonly used wrought aluminum alloys are available. The article also provides design guidelines for aluminum extrusions and discusses various forming methods.

This article describes the zinc and zinc alloys for decorative and functional applications. It focuses on the types of zinc coatings, namely, hot dip galvanizing, electrogalvanizing, metallizing, and mechanical galvanizing. The article covers the uses of zinc alloy castings, including pressure die castings, and gravity castings. It details the wrought products of zinc and zinc alloys, including flat-rolled products, wire-drawn products, extruded products, and forged products. The article also describes various properties of zinc alloys, including mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical, and magnetic properties. The listing for each alloy includes chemical compositions, relevant specifications, mass characteristics, and fabrication characteristics.

Cold extrusion is a push-through compressive forming process with the starting material (billet/slug) at room temperature. This article provides information on the different types of steels that can be cold extruded. Mechanical presses and hydraulic presses that are specifically designed for cold extrusion with high rigidity, accurate alignment, and long working strokes are described. The article details the factors that are critical in cold extrusion: punch design, die design, and tool design. It summarizes the role of lubricants during extrusion of steel, such as soap lubricant and polymer lubricants. The article describes several procedures for extruding specific steel parts such as tubular parts and stepped shafts. It lists problems such as tool breakage and galling or scoring of tools and explains cold extrusion of aluminum, copper, and nickel alloy parts. The article also discusses the impact extrusion of magnesium alloys.

This article describes the direct hot extrusion process and the typical sequence of operations for producing extruded aluminum shapes from soft and medium-grade aluminum alloys, hard alloys, and aluminum-matrix composites. It discusses key process variables, including extrusion speed and exit temperature, and their effect on product quality. The article also provides information on extrusion presses, press dies, and tooling, and addresses quality issues such as surface defects, blistering, and internal cracking. It concludes with a discussion on the drawing of solid section and aluminum tube.

This datasheet provides information on composition limits, product specifications, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and applications of extrusion alloy 7003.

This article discusses the classification, characteristics and temper designations of wrought aluminum alloys. Wrought aluminum products are available as flat-rolled products such as sheets, plates, and foils; rods, bars, and wires; tubular products such as tubes and pipes; extruded shapes; forgings; and impacts. The article provides information on product economics, design and selection, including product dimension and dimension tolerances, and design and use of wrought product capabilities. Finally, it tabulates the specifications and standards for aluminum mill products.

This article describes the extrusion process, which converts soft, plastic material into a particular form using an extruder, or screw conveyer. It discusses the two main types of plastic extruders, twin-screw and single-screw, estimation of extruder capacity, and design and operations (heating, cooling, downstream sizing, corrugating, and crossheading) of the screw, the most important component of any extruder. It discusses the shapes produced by screw extrusion and the types of extrusion products produced by extrusion processes, including blown-film extrusion, flat-film or sheet extrusion, chill-roll film extrusion, pipe or tube extrusion, wire and cable coverings, extrusion coating, and profile extrusion, and provides some discussion on multiple-screw extruders. The article describes the dimensional accuracy of extrusion products, and lists common defects that occur frequently in the extrusion process.

This article focuses on direct extrusion processing where metal powders undergo plastic deformation, usually at an elevated temperature, to produce a densified and elongated form having structural integrity. It provides information on the basic powder extrusion processes and the mechanics of extrusion. The article also examines specific extrusion practices for the production of wrought material from powder stock and provides examples of materials processed by powder extrusion.

This article discusses two basic forms of extrusion: cold and hot. It provides information on three types of extrusion processes, namely, direct extrusion, reverse extrusion, and hydrostatic extrusion. The article also discusses the mechanics, analysis, tooling and die design of extrusion as well as thermodynamics. The finite-element method suitable for simulation of metal forming processes is explained. The article examines the extrusion defects that are divided into three different categories including surface, subsurface, and internal type. It includes information on friction and lubrication modeling of extrusion processes. The article also discusses the fundamentals of extrusion technology of titanium alloys and aluminum. It concludes with information on two forms of wear in extrusion, namely, adhesive and abrasive wear.

This article lists temper designations and their definitions for aluminum alloys along with their product forms used in the United States (ANSI H35.1), Europe (EN 515), and internationally (ISO 2107).

Alloy 6463 is a soft extrusion alloy that meets special needs in applications where a bright anodized finish is required. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of this 6xxx series alloy.

The 6xxx series aluminum alloys are used across end applications including all forms of transportation, electronics, and building and construction. This article contains tables that list standard specifications for 6xxx series aluminum alloys and select specialty mill products. The relationships among commonly used alloys in the 6xxx series are illustrated.

This article discusses the major characteristics of the 3xxx series aluminum alloys. It contains a table that lists product specifications of these 3xxx alloys.

This article focuses on mechanical testing characterization of blended elemental powder metallurgy (PM) titanium alloys and prealloyed PM titanium alloys. It examines the tensile properties, fracture toughness, stress-corrosion threshold resistance, fatigue strength, crack propagation properties, and processing-microstructure-property relationships of these alloys. The article also reviews five considerations for powder process selection.

This article discusses technologies focused on processing plastic materials or producing direct tools used in plastics processing. The article focuses on extrusion and injection molding, covering applications, materials and their properties, equipment, processing details, part design guidelines, and special processes. It also covers the functions of the extruder, webline handling, mixing and compounding operations, and process troubleshooting. Thermoforming and mold design are covered. Various other technologies for polymer processing covered in this article are blow molding, rotational molding, compression molding, transfer molding, hand lay-up process, casting, and additive manufacturing.

This article presents a summary of aluminum temper designations, and applicable aluminum alloys and product forms for temper designations used in the United States (ANSI H35.1), Europe (EN 515), and internationally (ISO 2107).