Cores or holes. They can be necessary for the profile's function, or useful for reducing the weight. Mifa excels at extruding complex profiles with many small cores. These cores can have a cross-section measuring from 0.5 millimetres, and our customers benefit from this.
The high-precision extrusion of small cores is no easy task. The smaller the holes, the trickier it is. It is in fact a small pin in the die that creates the core - the hot, soft aluminium flows past these little pins under high pressure. And the thinner the pin, the greater the risk that it will snap. Things get even trickier when small cores are separated by thin walls of as little as one millimetre in thickness. Thanks to our knowledge of dies, alloys, and the production process - we recommend that you also read the whitepapers on alloys and precision extrusion - we are able to extrude such complex profiles with cores from 0.5 millimetres in size, and in lengths of multiple metres.
No subsequent processing needed
The possibility of extruding small cores separated by thin walls gives designers great freedom of design. But there is more. Whereas cores are generally created after the profile has been made, we can extrude them together with the profile, from just one piece. This means drilling is no longer necessary. The cores can be used, for example, for cooling, for gauging, or for allowing a liquid, electrical wire, or other type of wire to run through it. Applications include cylinders and heat exchangers. But we can also extrude a core that will subsequently merely be used as a screw hole. For this use too, it is advantageous that drills are not used in the process. And sometimes we extrude cores to reduce the weight. These holes have no function but can help to lower the fuel consumption in an aeroplane, for example. Of course, the extrusion of weight-saving cores is only possible if the construction's required strength can still be achieved.
Benefiting our customers
Cores can be drilled into a profile after it has been made; however, simultaneous extrusion has many advantages. It is at least as accurate as subsequent drilling, it means less work as no processing or assembling is needed, and it shortens the production time. Furthermore, the finish is perfect and the profile is easy to keep clean as it lacks such things as assemblage seams. Compared to drilling holes, simultaneous extrusions is often even cheaper and more precise. This is a huge advantage particularly for machines in, for instance, the food industry. The extrusion costs are in fact higher with this method of creating cores, but the total production and process costs for the end product are lower overall. We can advise you about the various options in the design process and would be glad to work together with you on designing the best possible construction.
Would you like to know more about what we can offer when it comes to precision extrusion? Contact us or download our whitepapers. Experience it for yourself. Experience precision, experience the Mifa standard.
