It may be a surprise to many, but until the late eigtheenth century Aluminum was considered a luxury metal. The silver gloss of this commonly known metal that we know and use in everyday life today was very expensive to produce – in fact more expensive than gold – until Hall and Héroult invented the smelting process. That breakthrough made aluminum production much cheaper! And thus was born the most versatile metal used in production of so much of the necessities of the twenty first century that we live in today!
The Extrusion Patent
In 1797, Joseph Bramah was the first person to file an extrusion patent. The patent was for making pipes out of soft metals. He used a hand driven plunger to drive the metal through a die. This was the first patent for the extrusion process. Following that, there has been immense improvements and advancements to this process and especially in the field of extruded aluminum. Alexander Dick is credited with inventing the hot extrusion process which was first developed in 1894. This process can be applied to most non-ferrous alloys. Nowadays there are other methods such as hot extrusion where a powder mixture is compressed by heat compression.
Modern Era
Nowadays, companies such as Ford, Tesla, Boeing and Bomardier all rely on extruded aluminum products that are made using this patent as its base. And ofcourse, the field of extruding aluminum is fast advancing especially in Canada. One of the companies that has been leading the race in the extrusion arena is Signature Aluminum. On the Signature Aluminum extrusion website, there is a great deal of info about the type of extruded products that can be produced through this process including 80/20 extrusion, aluminum profiles, t-slot, z-extrusion and more.
Leading edge applications have sprung up across Canada and the United States to make use of the unique characteristics of extruded aluminum. What are some of these unique characteristics? Aluminium has by far the best strength to weigh ratio out of all the major metals that are available for manufacturing today. That is one of the primary reasons it is used heavily in aircraft production. Did you know that airplane wings are made out of aluminum? Recently it’s also become such a common element for use in cars because manufacturers want to reduce the weight of their cars in order to improve fuel efficiency.
Historical Perspectives
When Henry Ford started making automobiles on mass in the early 1900’s the main metal which he used was steel. As aluminum grew to be a very versatile, strong and light metal, today’s Ford is adopting its use in their automobiles, especially for such reasons as hybrid and hybrid electric cars. And that trend is sure to continue for the foreseeable future. What is not yet know however is how much more improvement is bound to happen in the extrusion process?
References:
http://www.signaturealum.com
https://www.britannica.com/technology/extrusion-industrial-process
Bringing Industry Leaders Together
Welcome to Marafea – North America’s Leading Aluminum extruder society for metal research and development. We aim to bring together the leading world figures and companies in search for better ways to extrude aluminum and to improve the overall metal manufacturing process.
By gaining valuable insights from industry leaders and experts from Canada, the United States and around the world we bring you the top place to learn about extruded aluminum products and to find out more about the latest in the field of rust prevention, metal extraction and manufacturing/welding systems.