Hydro Extrusion offers the industry’s broadest product capabilities in press sizes and tonnages (direct and indirect extrusion), alloy selection, circle sizes, profile types and “green” billet, and can meet your needs for extruded aluminum profiles as well as everything you need to go from design to production to just-in-time delivery of line-sequenced final product.
In 1993, not a single automobile had been made in Alabama. Then, Mercedes selected the state for its first passenger vehicle factory outside Germany and, in 1997, the first M-class SUV rolled off the lines. By 2006, with Honda (1999) and Hyundai (2002) in steady production, the 2-millionth vehicle had been built. In 2010 alone, 711,000 cars and light trucks were built in Alabama.
Aluminum’s Impact on Vehicles
Corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) regulations are looming (35.5mpg by 2016; 54.5mpg by 2025). Automakers have intensified their weight-reduction efforts and found that aluminum offers the ideal engineering solution.
Its density is 1/3 that of steel and it satisfies the torsion and stiffness requirements of an automotive material. Because 1 pound of aluminum in passenger cars can replace 1.5 to 2 pounds of steel, the weight savings are significant.
Extruded aluminum profiles have had a major impact on vehicles, such as:
- Tesla’s Model S all-aluminum electric performance sedan
This vehicle has won dozens of awards, including 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year, Automobile Magazine's 2013 Car of the Year, Time Magazine Best 25 Inventions of the Year 2012 award and Consumer Reports' top-scoring car ever. It has a 5-star safety rating and a combined fuel economy of 89 mpg gasoline equivalent. - Land Rover’s all-aluminum Range Rover
The full-size SUV’s all-aluminum structure combined with a new 3.0-liter V6 supercharged engine, improved its performance and fuel economy. With a body that’s 39% lighter than its predecessor, it offers 22.1 mpg fuel efficiency. - The redesigned 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck – The high-strength, military grade, aluminum-alloy body provides less weight (700 pounds lighter) but greater strength. It also offers the highest EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings among gas-powered light-duty pickups (22mpg combined). The vehicle has a 5-star safety rating, and won Truck Trend’s 2015 Pickup of the Year award.
Hydro's Extrusion Expertise
As North America’s leading supplier of extrusion profiles, Hydro Extrusion offers a product for nearly any type of application. Customers have unprecedented access to resources for manufacturing standard and custom shapes (solid, semi-hollow and hollows), seamless and structural pipe and tube, standard high fin and thin fin heat sinks, and more.
Our Belton, South Carolina, plant is ISO 9001and ISO 14001certified and offers expertise in 6005, 6060, 6061, 6063, 6101, and 6105 alloys, in standard and special tempers. The facility’s unique specialties include cut-to-length tolerances for wide cross section shapes, T6 mechanical properties that allow customers to bend after aging, fill & debridge, full water quenching for heavy 6061 T1 shapes, and knurling for non-skid floor systems.
Hydro Gainesville in Georgia is fully equipped with a wide range of extrusion presses, including 1,800 ton (7"), 2,500 ton (7"), 2,750 ton (8"), and 3,600 ton (10”), and supplies all shapes, alloys and tempers, ranging in size from one millimeter to several feet long. Paint specialization includes liquid paint (2 electrostatic vertical wet lines) and powder coat to 25'. Fabrication services include drilling, tapping, punching, end deburring, tumble deburr, fill & debridge, assembly, riveting, miter cutting, CNC machining, countersinking, protective film,
and thermal barriers.
Hydro Extrusion operates 23 plants and 65 extrusion presses across North America. When you require custom aluminum extrusions for your product designs in Alabama, take advantage of our unlimited global resources, wide-ranging technical competencies and extensive product range to keep tooling costs low and lead times short.