Co-extrusion of Discontinuously, Non-centric Steel-reinforced Aluminum

The process of manufacturing discontinuously non-centric steel reinforced aluminum by means of co-extrusion has been examined. By this process semi-finished reinforced profiles can be fabricated for further treatment through forging techniques. Therefore, steel reinforcement elements consisting of E295GC were inserted into conventional aluminum billets and co-extruded into two different solid profiles; a rectangle one by an extrusion ratio of 10.1:1 and a round one by 4.8:1. The used aluminum alloy is EN AW-6060. The billet temperature as well as the ram speed were varied to investigate their influence on the position of the reinforcement elements inside the strand. The measurement was done by a video measurement system, called Optomess A250, after milling off the strand. The distances between the elements in longitudinal direction were nearly constant, apart from the rear part of the strand. The same was observed for the distance of the steel elements to the profile edge. This due to the inhomogeneous material flow in the transverse weld, related to the billet-to-billet extrusion. The rotation of the reinforcement elements occurs because the elements flow nearby the shear zone. Further, micrographs were made to investigate the embedding situation and the grain size distribution. The embedding of the reinforcement elements were good in the solid round profile, but in the rectangle profile were found some kind of air pocket. The grain size of the aluminum alloy close to the steel elements is much smaller than in the other parts of the solid round profile.