Processing technology of aluminum products

What is aluminum?

Aluminum is the most widely used non-ferrous metal material, and its application scope is expanding. There are more than 700000 kinds of aluminum products produced by using aluminum materials. There are different demands in all walks of life, from the construction and decoration industry to the transportation industry and aerospace industry. Today, I`d like to introduce the processing technology of aluminum products and how to avoid deformation.


Table of Contents hide
1 What is aluminum?
2 Processing technology of aluminum products
2.1 Stamping of aluminum products
3 Surface treatment of aluminum products
3.1 The technological measures and operation skills of reducing the deformation of aluminum processing
4 Technological measures to reduce machining deformation
5 Operation skills of reducing machining deformation
The advantages and characteristics of aluminum are as follows:
1. Low density. The density of aluminum is about 2.7g/cm3. Its density is only one third of that of iron or copper.
2. High plasticity. Aluminum has good ductility and can be made into various products by extrusion, stretching and other pressure processing means.
3. Corrosion resistant. Aluminum is a metal with strong negative charge. Under natural conditions or anodic oxidation, protective oxide film will be formed on the surface of aluminum, which has much better corrosion resistance than steel.
4. Easy to strengthen. The strength of pure aluminum is not high, but it can be improved by anodizing.
5. Easy surface treatment. Surface treatment can further improve or change the surface properties of aluminum. Aluminum anodizing process is quite mature, stable operation, and has been widely used in the processing of aluminum products.
6. Good conductivity, easy to recycle.
Processing technology of aluminum products
STAMPING OF ALUMINUM PRODUCTS
1. Cold flushing

Use material aluminum particles. The extrusion machine and die are used for one-time forming, which is suitable for cylindrical products or products with difficult drawing process, such as ellipse, square and rectangular products

Surface treatment of aluminum products
1. Sand blasting
The process of cleaning and coarsening metal surface by the impact of high-speed sand flow.
The surface treatment of aluminum parts by this method can make the surface of workpiece obtain certain cleanliness and different roughness, and improve the mechanical properties of the workpiece surface. Therefore, it improves the fatigue resistance of the workpiece, increases the adhesion between it and the coating, prolongs the durability of the film, and also benefits the leveling and decoration of the coating. We often see the process in Apple`s products.
2. Polishing
The surface roughness of workpiece is reduced by mechanical, chemical or electrochemical action to obtain a bright and flat surface processing method. Polishing process is mainly divided into mechanical polishing, chemical polishing, electrolytic polishing. Aluminum parts can be close to the stainless steel mirror effect after mechanical polishing + electrolytic polishing. This process gives people a high-end simple and fashionable future feeling.
3. Wire drawing
Metal drawing is a process of repeatedly scraping aluminum plate out of line with sandpaper. The drawing can be divided into straight thread drawing, random drawing, spinning thread drawing and thread drawing. Metal drawing technology can clearly show every fine micro wire mark, so that the metal matte is covered with fine hair luster, and the products are also equipped with fashion and technology sense.
4. High gloss cutting
Diamond knife is reinforced by a precision Carver to cut parts on the spindle of high speed rotary (generally 20000 RPM), and local highlight area is produced on the surface of the product. The brightness of cutting highlights is affected by the speed of milling bit, the brighter the high light of the bit speed is, and the darker the other is, the more likely the cutter pattern will be produced. High light and high-light cutting is especially used in mobile phones, such as iphone5. In recent years, some high-end TV metal frames adopt high-end milling technology, and the anodizing and wire drawing technology make the TV set full of fashion and technology sharpness.
5. Anodizing
Anodizing refers to the electrochemical oxidation of metal or alloy. Aluminum and its alloy form a layer of oxide film on aluminum products (anodes) under the corresponding electrolyte and specific process conditions due to the action of external current. Anodizing can not only solve the defects of aluminum surface hardness, wear resistance, etc., but also prolong the service life of aluminum and enhance the aesthetic degree. It has become an indispensable part of aluminum surface treatment, and is the most widely used and very successful technology.
6. Two color anode
Two color anode is to anodize a product and give different colors to a specific area. The double color anodizing technology is less applied in the television industry, because of the complex technology and high cost; But through the contrast between two colors, it can reflect the high-end and unique appearance of the product.

THE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES AND OPERATION SKILLS OF REDUCING THE DEFORMATION OF ALUMINUM PROCESSING
There are many reasons for the deformation of aluminum parts, which are related to the material, shape and production conditions. There are mainly the following aspects: the deformation caused by the internal stress of the blank, the deformation caused by cutting force and cutting heat, and the deformation caused by clamping force.

Technological measures to reduce machining deformation
1. Reduce the internal stress of wool culture
The internal stress of the blank can be partly eliminated by natural or artificial aging and vibration treatment. Pre processing is also an effective method. For the roughcast with fat head and big ear, because of the large allowance, the deformation after processing is also large. If the surplus parts of the blank are machined in advance and the allowance of each part is reduced, not only the processing deformation of the later process can be reduced, but also the internal stress can be released after a period of time.
2. Improving the cutting ability of cutting tools
The material and geometric parameters of cutting tool have important influence on cutting force and cutting heat. The correct selection of cutting tool is very important to reduce the deformation of parts.
1) Reasonable selection of tool geometry parameters.

① Rake angle: under the condition of maintaining the strength of the cutting edge, the rake angle should be appropriately larger. On the one hand, it can grind out a sharp edge, on the other hand, it can reduce the cutting deformation, make chip removal smooth, and then reduce the cutting force and cutting temperature. Do not use negative rake tool.
② Rake angle: the size of rake angle has a direct impact on the wear of flank and the quality of machined surface. The cutting thickness is an important condition