Aluminum Extruders Council Archives

6 01, 2025

Not Just a New Year’s Resolution: Aluminum Extrusion Sustainability

jane2025-06-16T14:08:22+00:00January 6th, 2025|

Is the concept of aluminum extrusion sustainability more than just a popular industry term? With the increasing emphasis on sustainability in global markets, the significance of aluminum extrusion in promoting sustainable practices has never been greater. This extends beyond just meeting environmental standards. It involves transforming how products are made, how resources are managed, and how industries adapt to the evolving demands for greener solutions. From automotive to renewable energy, construction, and more, aluminum extrusion offers a pathway to reducing carbon footprints and advancing sustainable development.

This blog explores how aluminum extrusion contributes to sustainability. Utilizing aluminum reduces material usage, enhances energy efficiency, and creates recyclable products. Additionally, we will discuss the impact of supply chain management, including insights from a case study on sustainable practices from Taber Extrusions’ sister company, National Material Company (NMC). These factors illustrate how a holistic approach to aluminum extrusion can lead to a more sustainable future.

Aluminum Extrusion: A Sustainable Material Solution

Aluminum extrusion offers unique advantages when it comes to sustainability. The process of shaping aluminum alloy into profiles allows for the development of lightweight yet strong components. This makes it ideal for industries aiming to reduce material usage without sacrificing performance. This material solution is especially beneficial in applications requiring high-strength and durable products, such as aluminum for infrastructure, automotive, and renewable energy sectors.

Industry-Wide Sustainability Initiatives

The aluminum extrusion industry, led by organizations such as the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC), actively promotes sustainability initiatives. These include energy-efficient production practices, widespread use of recycled materials, and industry-wide sustainability reporting through the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). By participating in these programs, companies ensure that sustainability efforts extend beyond individual manufacturers and set industry standards for sustainable development.

Automotive Applications: Lightweighting for Efficiency

In the automotive industry, aluminum extrusions have become indispensable for vehicle light-weighting initiatives to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. Replacing traditional steel components with aluminum extrusion profiles significantly reduces weight and enhances overall vehicle performance. For instance, automotive aluminum is utilized in structural components like crash management systems, suspension parts, and battery housings for electric vehicles. This shift supports sustainability efforts and meets the stringent requirements of the advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) standards. Therefore, vehicles are ensured to maintain high safety and quality benchmarks.

Aluminum in Renewable Energy

The development of sustainable products in the renewable energy sector heavily depends on aluminum extrusion. Solar panel frames, wind turbine components, and electric vehicle charging stations are examples of extruded aluminum being used to provide strength, resistance to corrosion, and a lower environmental footprint. By integrating aluminum into these applications, energy consumption during manufacturing and installation is significantly reduced. The entire process is then more eco-friendly. Moreover, aluminum’s recyclability is critical in minimizing waste and supporting a circular economy.

A close-up view of the underside of a solar panel array revealing structural details and wiring.

Image Attribution: https://www.freepik.com/premium-photo/back-side-solar-panel-photovoltaic-alternative-electricity-source-concept-sustainable-resource_62854161.htm#fromView=search&page=1&position=9&uuid=fa5aa196-600a-47d9-b09e-7ec352460014

Expanding the Reach: Industries Served by Aluminum Extrusion

Beyond automotive and renewable energy, aluminum extrusions are crucial in aerospace, defense, and marine engineering industries. For example, aluminum’s lightweight and high-strength properties in aerospace applications contribute to improved fuel efficiency and load capacity. In the defense sector, extruded aluminum is used in protective structures and components for military vehicles to ensure high performance and durability. Also, the marine industry utilizes aluminum for shipbuilding, where its corrosion resistance enhances longevity in harsh environments.

Image Attribution: https://www.freepik.com/premium-photo/net-zero-carbon-neutral-concepts-net-zero-greenhouse-gas-emissions-target-climate-neutral-long-strategy-wooden-cubes-with-netzero-icon_289389669.htm#fromView=search&page=1&position=17&uuid=c8aedff8-75bb-496a-8747-a30b4f3f8401

Recyclability and the Circular Economy

Aluminum is inherently sustainable due to its recyclability. Approximately 75% of all aluminum produced is still in use, showcasing its long-lasting value and efficiency. Recycling aluminum requires just 5% of the energy needed for primary production, which dramatically lowers the carbon footprint. This closed-loop approach ensures that the environmental benefits of aluminum extrusion are maximized across industries. Incorporating recycled content into the extrusion process further reduces the environmental impact and makes aluminum a key player in the global shift towards a circular economy.

Research published in environmental science journals has shown that recycling aluminum results in significantly lower energy consumption than other metals, such as steel or copper. One study suggests that the process of recycling aluminum consumes just 5% of the energy needed for initial manufacturing. Thereby, this backs up broader initiatives to decrease industrial greenhouse gas emissions and preserve natural resources.

The Role of Responsible Sourcing and Supply Chain Management

Aluminum extrusion in sustainability extends to responsible sourcing practices and efficient supply chain management. Companies that prioritize sourcing ethically produced aluminum contribute to the broader industry initiative of transparent and accountable supply chains. This approach aligns with AEC’s EPD, which establishes uniform sustainability metrics across the industry and enables companies to achieve higher sustainability standards.

Case Study: National Material Company (NMC) and Supply Chain Transparency

A critical aspect of achieving sustainable aluminum extrusion is optimizing the supply chain to reduce waste and emissions. As detailed in a case study involving NMC, the integration of transparent supply chain practices was essential for addressing a customer’s request for a comprehensive global steel and aluminum parts supply chain footprint. The complexity of this task required NMC to analyze both direct and indirect emissions, as well as logistical processes. The company employed systematic approaches following GHG Protocol standards to accurately calculate emissions intensity based on the volume of metals processed.

NMC’s experience highlights the importance of transparency in metal procurement, logistics, and processing to minimize embedded emissions. By collaborating with partners like Greenway Steel, NMC successfully demonstrates how thorough supply chain transparency can facilitate more efficient decarbonization efforts, ultimately paving the way for future sustainability targets in the metals industry.

Partner with Taber Extrusions for Your Aluminum Extrusion Sustainability

Taber Extrusions is a leader in the aluminum extrusion industry known for its commitment to sustainable manufacturing and product innovation. It serves industries including automotive, infrastructure, defense, and renewable energy with tailored aluminum extrusion solutions that adhere to the highest industry standards and focus on quality and environmental accountability. Offering vertically integrated services that encompass everything from billet casting to advanced machining, Taber’s facilities are equipped to handle the most demanding requirements.

A technician wearing a hard hat, face shield, and protective gear, operating a liquid aluminum refining system (LARS).

The company’s comprehensive approach to aluminum sustainability ensures that its processes meet and exceed regulatory standards. By continually seeking ways to enhance resource efficiency and reduce environmental impacts, Taber reinforces its position as a trusted partner for businesses looking to adopt more sustainable practices. Their dedication to sustainability extends to innovative design solutions and collaboration across industries to drive the next generation of green technology.

Contact Taber today to learn how their solutions can help achieve your company’s aluminum extrusion sustainability objectives.

About Aluminum Extrusion Sustainability Leader—Taber Extrusions

Since 1973, Taber Extrusions has been a leader in the aluminum extrusion industry, renowned for innovation, quality, and exceptional service. As the only company in North America with a rectangular container, Taber can produce super-wide shapes and complex multi-void hollows, setting it apart in the market.

Serving diverse industries such as aerospace, defense, infrastructure, and renewable energy, Taber combines technical expertise with a commitment to environmental responsibility. Headquartered in Russellville, Arkansas, with a regional sales office in Gulfport, Mississippi, Taber is dedicated to advancing aluminum extrusion sustainability and efficiency.

Taber offers customized solutions that adhere to the highest industry standards, emphasizing quality and environmental stewardship. Their vertically integrated services—from billet casting to advanced machining—ensure superior products for any project.

Partner with Taber Extrusions to create innovative and sustainable solutions for your next project.

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1 03, 2021

Taber: Microextrusions For Defense and Aerospace

Catheryn2021-03-01T20:55:09+00:00March 1st, 2021|

Two images side-by-side, on left: long-range radar antenna used to track space objects and ballistic missiles. On right: A military radar antenna which rotates steadily, used for aircraft detection.

Like conventional aluminum extrusions, microextrusions are pushed through a die. Unlike conventional extrusions, the entire extrusion process is performed at a submillimeter level. In other words, the resulting product’s cross section can fit through a 1-millimeter square. Since microforming was first explored in 1990, several microextrusion processes have been developed and found to be especially valuable in the defense and aerospace industries.

“Taber was originally recognized for our large shapes and now we are establishing ourselves as microextruders. Since we’ve added microextrusions, friction stir welding, and billet casting, we’re pretty much spanning the gamut of aluminum extrusion competence,” says Jason Weber, VP of Sales and Marketing at Taber Extrusions. “We were already well-versed within the defense and aerospace markets but adding miniature aluminum extrusions to our capabilities has allowed us to become a one-stop shop for our customers in those industries. Our diversification has opened the door wide for our customers.”

Three side-by-side images illustrating how strikingly small microextrusions are. Various aluminum profiles are lined up creatively next to measuring rulers.

Taber Extrusions has experienced many evolutions since its founding in the early 1970s. Established in Russellville, AR, Taber pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet, able to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Since then, the Gulfport, MS facility was added, which increased Taber’s billet capacity, alloy range, and ability to reuse materials. Within the last decade, fabrication capabilities were upgraded, friction stir welding was added, and of course, microextrusions became an offering.

MICROEXTRUSIONS FOR DEFENSE AND AEROSPACE

For which type of end-use applications are Taber’s microextrusions being utilized?

Defense

Precision is a must for military, defense, and firearms manufacturing – requiring strength, complexity, and tight tolerances. Aluminum’s high strength-to-weight ratio makes it the ideal material for many defense product applications such as:

Communications systems
Electronics thermal management/enclosures
Guidance systems
Radar systems
Weapons systems
Firearms components and accessories

A U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon, British Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon, French Air Force Dessault Rafale, and U.S. Air Force F-22 fly in formation above the clouds on a sunny day.

Aerospace

From the Wright brothers to NASA, aluminum has helped make it possible for humans to fly above the Earth onward to explore other galaxies. Aluminum’s minimal maintenance, lightweight with high strength, flexibility at low temperatures, and ability to engineer a wide range of functionality into components, makes it an obvious choice for solutions in aircraft and aerospace. For the most part, microextrusions function out of site and you’ll never know they are all around you. However, they serve a crucial role in aerospace:

Interior aircraft systems
Supplemental oxygen systems
Electrical/Communication Systems
Passenger Comfort Systems
Coolant radiators
Oil coolers
Transmission coolers
Intercoolers
AC condensers
Passenger service systems
Other fluid/gas systems

As aluminum has played an important role in the defense and aerospace applications for many years, a new generation of aluminum-lithium alloys are offering aircraft manufacturers even more savings when it comes to weight and fuel. Beyond aluminum’s high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent formability, its anticorrosive properties make it a top choice. When aluminum is exposed to air, it forms a hard microscopic oxide coating, sealing it from the environment. This tight oxide bond is a compound not found in nature, but an aluminum alloy created to provide a long-lasting protective solution. These unique properties allow microextrusion manufacturers like Taber Extrusions to furnish extremely strong, precise, and long-lasting miniature extrusions to end users in a wide range of markets.

Taber’s Miniature Extrusion Capabilities

Up to 0.8 In²cross sectional area
Special cases down to 0.075 In²
Profile circle size up to 3″
Minimum wall thickness possible to 0.010” (select cases)
Key characteristic tolerances possible ±0.001” (select cases)

: The word “microextrusions” reflects on a metal ruler up to the 4-inch mark, with 3 sizes of square hollow-shaped miniature extrusions lined up against the 1-2-inch marks.

More About Taber Extrusions:

Founded in 1973, Taber Extrusions originally pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet which enables the company to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Taber expanded with the purchase of an extrusion facility in Gulfport, MS, in 1995 which houses a new state-of-the-art cast house and two additional presses, microextrusion capabilities, and the fabrication area has been expanded multiple times.

Taber continues to extrude billet in a wide range of alloys and sizes and has diversified its markets beyond military since its inception to include aerospace, automotive, marine, infrastructure, and sporting goods, among many others. For these markets, the company supplies cast and extruded products in a variety of soft and hard alloys.

Today, Taber Extrusions has completed the addition of in-house friction stir welding capabilities, and carries on their offering of extruded aluminum components, value-added machining services, and raw material supply to the North American market – making them a vertically integrated supplier of FSW panels and assemblies never before seen in North America.

Follow Taber Extrusions

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/8843183/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/taberextrusions/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/taberextrusions

Interested in becoming a part of the Taber Team? Submit your resume to careers@taberextrusions.com.

Become a customer today! Visit us or request a quote: https://taberextrusions.com or call us at (888) 985-5319.

18 02, 2021

Aluminum Microtubing Rapidly Developing in Sync: Microextrusions

Catheryn2021-02-18T21:00:51+00:00February 18th, 2021|

3D Rendering of a silver ruler measuring approximately 2 inches of space, with 4 tiny aluminum tubes jutting down from the top of the image, barely taking up a few millimeters on the ruler. The words “Aluminum Mictotubing” appear to the right in white.

Recent advancements in extrusion have allowed for aluminum microtubing products to be used in medicine and surgical applications. Specifically, microextrusions have allowed for OEM’s to request microtubing with dimensions previously thought impossible.

With continued advancements in several industries, aluminum microtubing has become increasingly more complex and smaller in size. New and advanced processes have placed an urgency on manufacturers to produce smaller and smaller microtubing with safer and more durable materials.

OEMs are primarily focused on miniaturizing their devices and providing new features, but reducing cost is also a large concern. Before, these OEMs relied on traditional injecting molding to complete these projects. However, with the increasing popularity of microextrusions, OEMs now have much more flexibility in cost and design.

The use of aluminum microtubing is useful in this regard. Aluminum can provide three times as much volume per pound as other metal products – so when weight is a factor, it is an obvious choice.

Aluminum’s natural corrosion resistance makes it suitable to many types of environments and its ability to transmit heat rapidly make it ideal for heat transfer processes. On top of this all, aluminum tubing is readily bent, formed, and welded.

Per Medical Design Briefs:

“From a challenge standpoint, material is a key factor… running products on a micro level requires materials to be processed at extremely low output levels, thus creating the potential for high shear and material degradation.

Unlike traditional extrusion, which processes a large amount of material quickly, microextrusion processes a small amount of material slowly to get the desired physical and performance attributes.

In addition to the benefits provided by the reduction in size, another plus is to have the ability to build in advanced steerable capabilities, enhanced with… features to aid in complex procedures. This type of structure can be produced in multilayer size, with enhanced performance in many areas. Depending on the application and device, you can modify configurations to aid the designers even further.”

TABER’S MICROEXTRUSION PROCESS

Taber’s aluminum ultra-precise extrusions are produced through a proprietary technique that delivers features, tolerances, and surface finishes previously considered to be impossible. This unique extrusion process continues to excite design engineers, offering an additional design alternative for the production of precision aluminum components. Industries most commonly using microextrusions include computer, electronics, aerospace, medical, industrial, and military.

About Taber Extrusions:

Founded in 1973, Taber Extrusions originally pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet which enables the company to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Taber expanded with the purchase of an extrusion facility in Gulfport, MS., in 1995 which houses a new state of the art cast house and two additional presses, micro-extrusion capabilities, and the fabrication area has been expanded multiple times.

Taber continues to extrude billet in a wide range of alloys and sizes, and has diversified its markets beyond military since its inception to include aerospace, automotive, marine, infrastructure, and sporting goods, among many others. For these markets, the company supplies cast and extruded products in a variety of soft and hard alloys.

Today, Taber Extrusions has completed the addition of in-house Friction Stir Welding capabilities, and carries on their offering of extruded aluminum components, value-added machining services and raw material supply to the North American market – making them a vertically integrated supplier of FSW panels and assemblies never before seen in North America.

A SPECIAL NOTE ON VIRUSES AND BACTERIA IN RESPECT TO ALUMINUM SURFACES:

At this time of extreme health concern, specifiers must carefully consider how material choices may impact the spread of viruses, bacteria, and infectious diseases in healthcare facilities and other public spaces.

While much about the coronavirus is still under investigation, research has demonstrated significant differences in the longevity of viruses on various surfaces, and there are a variety of treatments that appear to further reduce the growth and survival of viruses and bacteria, enhancing the surface’s ability to destroy pathogens.

A major research study published in the Journal of Hospital Infection tested human coronavirus strains for longevity on various material surfaces and found that the virus lasted only two to eight hours on aluminum, but days on many other materials.

We encourage you to access the full white paper on this topic which can be found at AEC.org

An infographic consisting of icons depicting various surface materials (aluminum, surgical gloves, plastic, steel, glass, PVC, silicon rubber, ceramic, and Teflon) with the headline, “Coronavirus (HCoV) Survival Time on Various Inanimate Surface Materials”

Follow Taber Extrusions

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/8843183/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/taberextrusions/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/taberextrusions

Interested in becoming a part of the Taber Team? Submit your resume to careers@taberextrusions.com.

Become a customer today! Visit us or request a quote: https://taberextrusions.com or call us at (888) 985-5319.

17 08, 2012

Aluminum Week 2012: The Industry’s Look Ahead

andre2015-06-18T15:33:38+00:00August 17th, 2012|

It’s an exciting time to be in the aluminum industry. Auto makers are going full speed ahead with integration of aluminum bodies in the next generation of popular vehicles. Aluminum is involved in construction, reconstruction, and other infrastructure projects around the world. Even consumer interest in the aluminum recycling market is growing, leading to more efficient aluminum production that’s good for the environment.

The road ahead for our industry is an exciting one, and it’s no surprise that aluminum professionals are looking forward to the industry’s annual convention. Aluminum Week 2012 will be held from Monday, October 15 to Thursday, October 19 in downtown Chicago at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown.

As aluminum is increasing its presence for auto manufacturers, several speakers will explore this topic from a variety of perspectives. This includes, David Strickland, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Mitch Bainwol, President & CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers; and Michael Robinet, Managing Director of IHS Automotive Consulting.

Hosted by the Aluminum Association, the Aluminum Extruders Council, and the Aluminum Anodizers Council, registration is now open for Aluminum Week 2012. For more information or to register, visit the official registration page.