In the world of raw materials manufacturing, metal is formed using two primary methods: extrusion and cold-finishing. These methods don’t just shape metals, but they change the properties of raw materials, modifying their hardness, changing their surfaces, and more.
Read on to learn the differences between extruded vs. cold-finished materials, their various applications, and how to choose the best material for the job.
What are Extruded Metals?
Extruded metals are made by heating certain types of metal until they’re malleable, then pushing the material through a die, a process known as extrusion. As the metal moves through the die, it’s formed into its desired shape. Extruded metals may be solid, like a rod, or hollow, like a pipe. They can also create complex shapes with varying cross-sections. Once the metal is extruded, it’s rapidly cooled using cold air or water, solidifying its shape.
These metals have high corrosion resistance, stability, and can be quite lightweight. They also tend to be quite versatile; extruded metals’ applications are vast.
What are Cold Finished Metals?
Cold-finished metals get their name from their manufacturing process, which is done without heat. It’s used to manufacture metals that are work-hardened, meaning that their mechanical properties change as they’re manipulated. Work-hardened metals are worked until they lose their plasticity, resulting in a strong, hard material.
Like extruded metals, cold-finished metals can be shaped by extrusion or can also be passed through rollers, turned, or ground until the desired shape is achieved. Cold-finished metals’ properties include high tensile strength and hardness, dimensional accuracy, and more.
Extruded vs. Cold Finished: Properties and Differences
| Extruded Metal | Cold Finished Metal | |
| Manufacturing Process | Manufactured while heated, then hardened through cooling. Extruded metals only need to pass through an extruder once to achieve their desired shape, making them fast to produce. | Manufactured while room temperature, hardened through work. Cold-finished metals often go through numerous rounds of extrusion, turning, rolling, and more until their desired shape and hardness is achieved, making them slower to produce. |
| Mechanical Properties | Lower strength and hardness. Greater ductility and less brittleness. | Greater strength, hardness, and stiffness. Lower ductility and more brittleness. |
| Dimensional Tolerance | Wider dimensional tolerance due to warping and other variations that occur during cooling. | Extremely tight tolerances ideal for highly precise applications. |
| Surface Finish | Oxidized, rougher surface finish | Smooth, refined surface finish |
| Cost | Lower cost due to fast production times. | Higher cost due to slower production times. |
Extruded vs. Cold Finished: Applications
Extruded metals are ideal for larger structural components that don’t require extreme precision or polished finishes. Extruded metal applications include:
- Space: Spacecraft and satellite structures, including their frames, hinges, and other structural components.
- Commercial aerospace: Fuselage frames, landing gear struts, seats and cargo tracks, fuel tanks and more.
- Defense: Armored vehicle frames, weapon components like mounts, gun parts, and missile launchers.
- Naval: Ship and submarine construction in highly corrosive environments.
- Industrial: Frames, structures, tracks, and rails of machinery and industrial equipment.
- Power generation: Solar panel frames and mounting systems and wind turbine blades.
- Medical: Medical imaging equipment, disposable tools, and patient care equipment like beds, walkers, wheelchairs and more.
Cold-finished stainless steel metals and more offer high strength and precision, along with a smooth and polished surface. They’re ideal for the following applications:
- Space: Engine components, rocket motors, landing gear, and fasteners.
- Commercial aerospace: Aircraft fuselages, wing spars, pumps, hydraulic components, and actuators.
- Defense: Gun barrels, bomb components, ammunition, armored vehicles, and more.
- Naval: Propeller shafts, fasteners, hinges, gears, spline shafts, and other high-wear parts with precise dimensions.
- Industrial: Tools, dues, molds, appliances, and more.
- Power generation: Turbine components like gears, spline shafts, and spindles, heat exchanger tubes, and power transmission equipment.
- Medical: Surgical equipment like scalpels, retractors, and forceps, as well as hypodermic and fine-gauged needles.
Selecting the Best Material for Your Needs
Looking for the best type of metal for your needs? When comparing CF vs. EXT, neither material is “better.” Cold finished and extruded aluminium and other metals each have their own uses. It’s simply a matter of pairing the right material with the right job.
Use extruded metal if you need:
- Fast turnaround: Extruded metal is much faster to manufacture, as it simply needs to be shaped once and cooled.
- Lower-cost materials: These metals tend to be cheaper than cold-finished due to their easy manufacturing.
- Advanced shapes: Extrusion allows for the creation of highly complex shapes, like hollow tubes or intricate cross-sections.
Use cold-finished metal if you need:
- Tight tolerance: Because cold-finished metals are manufactured at room temperature, they tend to have much tighter tolerances and can be used to create much more precise shapes.
- High strength: As cold-finished metals are worked, their yield strength and hardness begins to far exceed what’s possible with extruded metal. Cold-finished metals have exceptional strength-to-weight ratio.
- Polished surface: Cold-finishing results in a smooth and polished surface, making it ideal for visible components.
Fry Steel: Your Extruded and Cold Finished Metal Supplier
Whether you’re seeking extruded or cold finished metal for your upcoming project, it’s important to source it from a supplier you can trust. At Fry Steel, we carry a wide selection of both CF and EXT to suit your needs. We hold ourselves and our suppliers to the highest quality assurance standards to ensure you have the best possible materials for any job. Contact us today to learn more.
