This chapter discusses the extrusion technology of soft- and medium-strength aluminum alloys. The relative extrudability ratings of some soft- and medium-grade alloys are given. The chapter presents useful extrusion parameters and their relationships associated with day-to-day production practices in the aluminum extrusion industry. Useful parameters discussed include: extrusion runout; extrusion pressure; ram or extrusion speed control; and butt or extrusion discard thickness control. The chapter provides fundamental approaches to introducing and developing the design of experiments (DOE) for the aluminum extrusion plant to improve overall productivity. It also focuses on heat treatment of aluminum alloys.

After the failure analysis team hypothesizes failure causes, prepares a failure mode assessment and assignment, and evaluates all potential failure causes, it may find in some cases that several causes are still suspect but cannot be confirmed. In this situation, an experiment is necessary to confirm or rule out suspected causes. This chapter discusses two predominant methods for doing this, namely analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Taguchi methods (a more powerful technique based on ANOVA).