The success of any aluminum extrusion company largely relies on its ability to consistently produce high-quality products. You can only win loyal clients if they are able to trust the quality of your aluminum extrusion products. Aluminum extrusion is a precision manufacturing process where all factors have to be rightly balanced for the products to come out perfect. These factors include the alloy, billet size, billet shape, extrusion ratio, tolerance, tongue ratio, finish, scrap ratio, extrusion speed, billet temperature, and extrusion pressure.
An imbalance in these factors could lead to some extruded aluminum profiles being considered rejects – they don’t fulfil expected standards or customer specifications. The inconsistent aluminum extrusion often results from:
Defective Billets
If you use defective billets for your aluminum extruded, those defects will likely be transferred to the extruded products. Defective billets can be billets with improper alloy ratios, slag/impurities, internal cracks scales/flakes and undissolved oxides. As a result, the extruded profiles could end up with internal cracking from secondary tensile stress. These cracks could be either arrowhead fractures, center cracks, center bursts, or chevron cracks.
Inconsistent aluminum extrusion problems emanating from defective billets can be solved by ensuring accurate alloy ratios, removing impurities and flakes, and getting rid of undissolved oxides. Machining billets before use can eliminate surface impurities, scales and flakes.
Faulty or Unsuitable Tooling
Failure to maintain aluminum extrusion equipment in tip-top condition often leads to inconsistent aluminum production. Faulty or unsuitable tooling could mean that the billet and die preheat furnaces are unable to show accurate temperatures, or the die and mandrels have imperfections. Moreover, the dimensional correction equipment could be improperly set.
Consequently, problems like pipe formation from billet-container friction and micro die lines/die lines from imperfections of the die surface could develop on the extruded profiles. There could also be black lines, white lines, runout marks, die-stop marks, oil stains/patches and twists/bends on the extruded profiles. Dimensional problems like convex concave, or uneven surfaces could also manifest. Ensuring that all extrusion equipment is in perfect working condition will prevent inconsistent aluminum extrusion due to faulty or unstable tooling.
Defects During Extrusion
Defects manifesting during extrusion often involve inappropriate chamber temperature, extrusion pressure, friction, and ram speed. The billet temperature often rapidly rises with the increase in exit speed because of the higher rate of work input and the limited heat loss to tooling. If the increasing billet temperature during extrusion is not regulated, local melting might occur.
This could lead to U-shaped cracking or classic hot shortness defect in the extruded profiles. Defects during extrusion can be avoided by maintaining proper extrusion temperatures and speed.
Flaws During Post-Extrusion Operations
A high level of keenness has to be maintained during post-extrusion operations to prevent any complications that might occur. Flaws in post-extrusion operations like saw cutting, roll correction, stretching/strengthening age hardening, painting, and anodizing could result in inconsistent extrusion profiles. Black pits dull corrosion, caustic patches blisters, and overlapping are some of the flaws that could arise at this stage.
Parting Shot
Precisely controlling your extrusion process will eliminate the possibility of ending with substandard aluminum extrusion products. Moreover, you can avoid dealing with inconsistent aluminum extrusion problems by picking a reputable extrusion equipment supplier like Wangeshi.
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