Aluminum Extrusion Alloys and Tempers

The 6xxx series, and 6063 above all. It sets the extrudability baseline of 100 that every other alloy is indexed against, anodizes cleanly and still reaches 205 MPa tensile in T6. Meco also presses 6005, 6061 and 6082 in 6xxx, plus 1050, 3003, 5052 and 7075 where the application demands it.

6061 carries more magnesium and silicon, so it is stronger at 260 MPa minimum in T6 against 205 MPa for 6063-T6, and it machines better. 6063 extrudes far more easily, at an index of 100 against roughly 70 for 6061, so it fills thinner walls and finer detail and gives a more even anodized surface. Pick 6061 for machined structural parts and 6063 for frames, trim and heat sinks.

Yes, but it is one of the hardest alloys to press. Its relative extrudability sits around 13 against 6063 at 100, so the press runs slowly, the die wears faster and the piece price rises. It also needs solution treatment and ageing away from the press. Specify 7075-T6 when the strength to weight ratio genuinely requires it, and T651 when a long section has to be stress relieved by stretching before machining.

T5 means the profile was quenched as it came off the press, then artificially aged in a furnace. Because there is no separate solution treatment, T5 gives slightly less strength than T6 but noticeably better dimensional stability and less distortion. That is why 6063-T5 is the standard temper for thin wall architectural and enclosure profiles.

6063 gives the cleanest and most uniform anodized film of the structural grades, and 1050 is brighter still where strength does not matter. 6005 anodizes well too, just short of 6063. 6061 anodizes well but can read less even across a large flat face. 7075 anodizes poorly and is usually powder coated instead.

Profiles are held to the Aluminum Association tables published as ANSI H35.2, or to EN 755-9 for European drawings. Both scale the tolerance with the dimension, the wall thickness and whether the feature crosses a hollow, so there is no single number. Where one feature has to be tighter than any extrusion class allows, we machine it afterwards to ±0.01 mm and verify on CMM to ±0.002 mm.

Extrusion dies run 4 to 6 weeks. Once cut, the same die can produce anywhere from 500 to over 1,000,000 pieces, and Meco applies no minimum order quantity. Because tooling amortises across the run, the same profile prices very differently at low and high volume, so send your annual quantity with the drawing rather than a single order size.

Yes. Mill certificates to EN 10204 3.1, certificates of analysis naming alloy and temper, REACH and RoHS documentation, conflict minerals reporting, PPAP packages, first article inspection and CMM reports are all available on request, with traceability from billet lot to finished section under an IATF 16949:2016 certified quality system.