If your business requires extruded aluminum profiles for unique applications, auto-related and otherwise, 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.
Hydro has many plants located near the rapidly growing Southeast and provides extensive extrusion, machining, fabrication, and finishing services. We are a diverse supplier, equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing machinery, a highly skilled staff, and the expertise necessary to manage any product.
We provide engineering assistance for product design, hold-tight, 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 plants are certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, and offer expertise in 6005, 6060, 6061, 6063, 6101, 6105 alloys, in both standard and special tempers, to satisfy your most complex requirements. Secondary fabrication capabilities include light assembly, cut-to-length, punching, notching, stamping, drilling, miter cuts, and CNC machining.
Our facilities in Connersville, Elkhart and North Liberty, Indiana, are fully equipped with a range of extrusion presses, including 1,675 ton (7"), 2,000 ton (9"), 3,600 ton (10"), 3,600 ton (12") and 6,000 ton (14", 16”), and supply all shapes, alloys and tempers, ranging in size from one millimeter to several feet long.
At Hydro North Liberty, alloy expertise includes 6005, 6060, 6061, 6063, and 6105, and the plant’s special capabilities consist of complicated hollow configurations and knurling for non-skid floor systems. The team here has partnered with customers for over 50 years to provide greater manufacturing flexibility and complete turnkey aluminum extrusion solutions.
Aluminum Extrusions in Vehicles
Although vehicle manufacturers have been using aluminum in automobiles for decades (wheels, suspension, chassis, cylinder blocks and other engine components, trim), they have been taking some innovative approaches to using aluminum for structural parts, and automotive aluminum has quickly gained ground in hoods, trunks, doors and bumpers.
Replacing steel frames with lighter extruded aluminum frames provides support without the weight. Aluminum is now the second most popular material in vehicles (after steel) for framing structures, roof components, side members, bumpers, radiator and door protection beams, rockers, and underrun protection.
Hydro’s automotive capabilities center on these product lines:
- Structures
- Powertrain
- Impact Protection
- Specialty Extrusions (including rod and bar for starting-stock)
- HEV specific components
- Brake Modules
- Trim and Accessories
We have knowledge and experience that is internationally unique in hydroforming long aluminum beams, a method that has been very beneficial for structural members in automotive applications. It replaces the older process of stamping two halves and welding them together.
Benefits of hydroforming include seamless bonding, superior part strength, and the ability to maintain high-quality surfaces for finishing purposes. It eliminates the need for multiple smaller parts with fasteners.
The aluminum extrusion process will provide you with virtually unlimited opportunities in product design with the added benefit of low tooling costs and short lead times.
When your complex designs require custom aluminum extrusions in Tennessee or elsewhere in the Southeast, choose Hydro for our extensive global resources, wide-ranging technical competencies and extensive product range.