Popular Aluminum Extrusion Profiles for Manufacturing Industry

When it comes to using extruded aluminum products for manufacturing, such as parts, components, or even completed projects, it pays to know a little bit about the standard shapes used in the aluminum extrusion industry. There is a difference between standard and custom profiles. Standard profiles will typically include things like bars, tubes, and angles. However, there are many options within each of those basic categories. For example, when it comes to tubes, they aren’t always round. Tubes can be squared or circular, but they can also be hollow or solid. At Silver City Aluminum, we extrude custom and some stock profiles that include angles, bars, tubes, and more. You can view our standard or stock shapes in our Standard Profile Catalog.

The majority of our clients come to us for custom aluminum extrusion profiles. These can range from simple shapes based on standard profiles that are customized to fit the needs of the manufacturing project to fully-custom shapes designed by the client or by our engineering team to address the unique requirements of the customer. We are proud to have earned the business of a wide variety of different clients who work in a number of very unique industries. As a result, each client has different needs and requirements when it comes to the extrusion and fabrication services that we offer. While most of our customers prefer to create custom products and materials, there are others who want quality, standard extrusions that can be used in many different ways.

The Extrusion Process

Regardless of the type of profile you choose for your extruded aluminum products, the overall process for extrusion is the same. We purchase our aluminum billet from several different suppliers, all of which is made of 99.9 percent recyclable aluminum. We offer a variety of aluminum alloys that can offer unique benefits and advantages, depending on the type of project you are creating. Our team of highly trained and experienced engineers can work with you in the early design phase to help you address potential issues and make specifications that will maximize the return on your investment – including the type of alloy that is best for your products. Our many years of experience working in the aluminum extrusion industry can work to your benefit and help you to create the best possible custom aluminum extrusion profiles for your business.

We pre-cut the billets to the proper size, according to the project we are working on for the client. This helps to minimize scrap and make the extrusions even more cost-effective. We pre-heat the billets into a long oven, bringing them to a specific temperature for proper extrusion. The metal is then pushed at approximately ten million pounds of pressure through the client’s steel profile. The aluminum flows through the custom die to create the specific shape that the client has designed or has selected from one of our stock profiles. The final phase of extrusion is the cooling process. The extruded aluminum is cooled down on our 160-foot table. At this time, it can be stretched into the perfect dimension and length while it is still warm with the use of opposing stretchers. The metal can then be cut to the requested size before it is heat-treated to harden it to its maximum capacity.

One-Stop Shop Extrusion and Fabrication

At Silver City Aluminum, we are proud to have earned a solid reputation in the New England area for producing high-quality extruded aluminum products. We have customers right here in Southeastern Massachusetts, across the country, and around the world. We strive to provide our customers with the best possible results, whether we are creating custom or standard aluminum extrusion profiles. We go above and beyond to guarantee the best quality by utilizing advanced PLC control technology to provide consistent and dependable quality control throughout the extrusion process and by performing hand inspections at every phase of the manufacturing process.

We provide all our services in-house, including extrusion and fabrication, assembly, secondary operations, finishing, and shipping. Our finished products can be shipped to your location via our fleet of trucks. By doing everything in-house and inspecting each piece by hand, we can keep a constant eye on the manufacturing process every step of the way. This is part of what separates Silver City Aluminum from others in the aluminum extrusion industry. To learn more about our services or to place an order with one of our customer service representatives, give us a call at 508-824-8631. We can answer any questions you might have about extruded aluminum products or connect you with one of our engineers to begin the custom design process.