Perhaps the best way to explain extrusion and fabrication of aluminum to someone who isn’t familiar with it is to describe it as squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. Aluminum alloys are heated to a specific temperature to make them even more malleable than they already are. Once they get to temperature, they are pushed with insane amounts of pressure through standard or custom steel dies, which are also known as profiles. This helps them to create precisely designed parts and products that are used by many different industries all around the world.
Just about any shape and size can be created using aluminum extrusion. Hollow aluminum tubes, traditional aluminum frames for windows, doors and displays, squares and angles, telescoping shapes – just about anything you could ever want can be created with custom aluminum extrusion. You can customize your parts and products even further, painting aluminum products, anodizing them or powder coating them, depending on your unique requirements. There are also many benefits of aluminum products, which make it a very popular material choice, some of which we will outline in this article.
Strong & Durable
When most people think about aluminum, they think about aluminum foil or aluminum beverage cans. It’s hard to imagine that aluminum products can be strong or durable when you are thinking about a sheet of aluminum that can be easily balled up or a can that even a child can crush. However, when aluminum alloys go through the extrusion and fabrication process, it provides completely different results. In fact, aluminum is so strong and durable, that it now makes up over 50 percent of the entire market share of extruded metal products worldwide. The characteristics of aluminum make it so valuable and the fact that it is the most recycled metal on the planet means that it is also very cost-effective and environmentally friendly to use.
Versatile & Malleable
Another huge advantage to choosing aluminum is that it is both versatile in the way that it can be used and it is malleable, which means that there are more options available to bend it and shape it into just about any design, while still remaining cost-effective, strong and durable. No matter how you shape it with standard or custom extrusion and fabrication, making bars and beams, hollow aluminum tubes, or totally unique patterns, you won’t sacrifice a bit of the strength and durability that you get with this amazing metal. In fact, by blending aluminum with other metals to create aluminum alloys, which are also used in extrusion, you can go even further and get even more benefits of aluminum products. While other metals can be extruded, none perform the way that aluminum does, which is why it is the number one choice for extrusion and fabrication.
Conductor of Heat & Electricity
There are many industries that use the benefits of aluminum products to their advantage in other ways besides strength, durability and flexibility. Another ways that aluminum extrusion and fabrication is used is as an efficient transfer of heat, making it the perfect material choice for radiators, air conditioners and condenser tubes. Aluminum is used in this way in both the automotive manufacturing industry and also for nuclear reactors. Extruded aluminum products are used throughout the heating and cooling devices that are used inside of electronics, mainframe computers, audio systems, video systems, and other related types of equipment across many different industries.
Corrosion & Rust Resistant
Aluminum is naturally resistant to corrosion and rust, due to a thin layer of aluminum oxide that forms over each part or product that is made. Following standard or custom extrusion and fabrication, many clients choose to increase this natural resistance by painting aluminum products. Other ways to add protection include anodizing and powder coating, all of which can improve the aesthetic appeal of hollow aluminum tubes and other types of extruded parts and pieces, using color or texture. There are many benefits of aluminum products, but there are also many more advantages available when choosing extrusion and fabrication or painting aluminum products over other methods used in manufacturing.
Quality Custom Extrusion at Silver City Aluminum
If you are in the market for standard or custom extrusion and fabrication or you would like to learn more about the benefits of aluminum products, give us a call at 508-824-8631. Our team of highly trained, experienced and knowledgeable technicians can help you with everything from basic hollow aluminum tubes to the most complex and complicated custom extrusion profiles you could ever want to create. Call today and start designing your custom aluminum parts and pieces with Silver City Aluminum.