Introduction
Seamless aluminum tubes are formed by hot extrusion to reach the final dimensions, and they can be true seamless tubes or non-seamless structural tubes. Compared with open-seam structural tubes, seamless aluminum tubes have no welding. Our professional seamless tube manufacturing process starts from extruded hollow tubes or solid bars drilled to precise specifications.
Seamless aluminum tubes are produced using two methods:
- extruding hollow aluminum billets at high temperature through a die and mandrel using enormous force to form the tube;
- extruding solid billets through a piercing mill, and then the mandrel pierces and extrudes the billet during the second forward stroke.
No matter which method is used, the tube is free of welding or seams, making it ideal for anodizing and other finishing processes. In addition, we also offer drawn aluminum tubes—seamless extruded tubes produced by drawing through dies to achieve final dimensions. Compared with extruded tubes, drawn aluminum tubes provide higher dimensional tolerance accuracy and thinner wall thickness.
Applications
Aluminum tubes are widely used across industries. Common applications include:
- Construction: due to their light weight, durability and corrosion resistance, used in building structures, roofs, curtain walls and other building applications.
- Automotive: widely used in automotive industry for exhaust systems, engine cooling systems and air-conditioning systems.
- Aerospace: for aircraft fuselages, wings and other structural components.
- Electrical: due to good conductivity and corrosion resistance, used for power transmission lines, busbars and other electrical applications.
- Marine: widely used in shipbuilding for both structural construction and equipment/accessories.
- Packaging: due to light weight and corrosion resistance, used for packaging applications, including tube production for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other products.
- Industrial: lightweight, strong and corrosion-resistant tubes used for heat exchangers, air-conditioning systems and fluid handling systems.
