Combination of curved profile extrusion and composite extrusion for increased lightweight properties

The present paper describes two innovative enhancements of the common direct extrusion process: on the one hand, curved profile extrusion for the production of curved profiles with improved properties in comparison to common bending processes and, on the other hand, composite extrusion, in which continuous reinforcements like steel wires are extruded together with conventional billets. A further innovation is the combination of both methods to manufacture curved reinforced aluminum profiles. Due to an unsymmetrical feeding of the reinforcing elements, the curvature generation is influenced by the changed material flow. Additionally, the curvature generation influences the position of the steel wires in the profile cross section. The investigation of these two effects, which have an impact on the quality of the process combination, is presented.