Extrusions - Ford F-150 2015 Structural Repair Training Course

Textbook
aluminum￿panels.￿Even￿structural￿parts,
such￿as,￿the￿B-pillar,￿are￿made￿from
stampings.
Creases￿or￿tears￿in￿a￿panel￿generally￿requires￿panel
replacement.
Though￿stampings￿have￿the￿most
repair￿options￿of￿all￿aluminum￿parts,
when￿deciding￿if￿a￿stamping￿should￿be
straightened,￿consider:
if￿the￿part￿should￿be￿straightened
•
with￿the￿use￿of￿heat.￿Small￿("small"
being￿subjective￿to￿the￿repairer)
damage￿generally￿can￿be￿reduced
or￿removed￿without￿the￿use￿of
heat.￿When￿removing￿damage,
heat￿will￿always￿make￿damage
removal￿easier,￿but￿the￿heat￿may
damage￿the￿coatings.
if￿heat￿is￿being￿used,￿Ford￿limits
•
the￿use￿of￿heat￿to￿425°F.￿As
long￿as￿the￿heating￿limits￿are￿not
exceeded,￿there￿is￿no￿cumulative
time￿limit￿for￿the￿use￿of￿heat.
the￿effects￿of￿the￿part￿stretching.
•
Even￿though￿heat￿will￿reduce￿the
amount￿of￿stretching,￿aluminum
will￿not￿react￿like￿steel,￿and￿oil
canning￿may￿occur.
2015￿Ford￿F-150￿Structural￿Repair￿Training￿Course￿(FOR06)

Extrusions

This￿six-cell￿extrusion￿is￿an￿example￿of￿a￿multi-cell
extrusion.
Extrusions￿are￿made￿by pushing￿heated,
solid￿aluminum￿billets￿through￿heated
dies.￿It￿is￿sometimes￿pulled￿as￿it￿exits￿the
die￿if￿the￿extrusion￿must￿be￿straight.￿A
simple￿example￿of￿extruding￿is￿pushing
adhesive￿out￿of￿a￿tube￿or￿cartridge.￿The
adhesive￿tip￿serves￿as￿the￿die.
Unique￿characteristics￿of￿extruded￿parts
include:
no￿pinchweld.
•
there￿may￿be￿an￿attachment￿flange
•
on￿the￿part￿which￿looks￿like￿a
pinchweld,￿but￿is￿designed￿to￿have
parts￿riveted￿or￿welded￿to￿it.
complex￿designs￿and￿shapes￿with
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seams￿that￿are￿not￿visible.￿An
extrusion￿may￿have￿a￿variable
thickness￿cross￿section.￿This￿is
done￿by￿varying￿the￿openings￿in
the￿die￿when￿the￿part￿is￿being
extruded.￿Extrusions￿are￿made
from￿a￿continuous￿form,￿either
straight￿or￿curved.￿If￿a￿part￿is
curved,￿it￿may￿be￿curved￿in￿a
post-forming￿operation. The
rocker￿panel￿reinforcement
Module￿2￿-￿Aluminum
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