ET '12: Leveraging the Design Advantages of Alummum Extrusions vs. Competitive Materials - How the Aluminum Extrusion Industry can Expand its Markets

摘要

In contrast to the situation with aluminum extrusions, the steel industry has incorporated educational information about steel and designing with steel into technical curriculums of universities. Structural design software used by architects, engineers, and designers provides extensive design assistance for steel-based systems; this is more limited for aluminum extrusions. Collectively, the authors of the paper possess extensive manufacturing, design, and sales experience in both materials; one of the authors was previously directly employed by a steel company, and charged with helping to drive its customers toward the use of steel vs. aluminum. The authors will report on the background, situation, and case studies, as well as the status of the industry's action plan to integrate aluminum extrusion education and design assistance into universities and technical design software.