Metra Group, headquartered in Rodengo Saiano, Italy, is a global manufacturer of complex extruded aluminum profiles, supporting the needs of industrial, building and construction, and other markets. A key strategic sector for the company for decades has been the railroad industry, which is seeing growing demand for aluminum as the industry focuses on improving the […]
FABTECH, North America’s largest metal forming, fabricating, welding, and finishing event will take place at McCormick Place, September 11-14, 2023. The event provides a convenient “one-stop shop” venue, where attendees can meet with world-class suppliers, see the latest industry products and developments, and find the tools to improve productivity, increase profits, and discover new solutions […]
Aluminum is increasingly being used to replace heavier and more difficult-to-machine steel in the rail industry. This is due to the material’s high strength-to-weight ratio and resistance to corrosion, which enables the production of lighter railcars, while also extending the life of those railcars to about 40 years. In response to this trend in the […]
Editor’s Note: As many Light Metal Age articles and items have noted, the friction stir welding (FSW) process, which joins aluminum components in the solid state, has been applied throughout the world in various industries that produce products for transportation, B&C, and industrial and consumer sectors. The November 2020 selection of patents covered a wide […]
Resistance spot welding (RSW), a technology that’s at least 100 years old, has been used by the automotive industry almost exclusively for joining steel sheet without using filler material or flux. The process utilizes shaped copper alloy electrodes, typically water cooled, to apply heat and pressure to pass electric current through stacked up sheets to […]
Editor’s Note: As many articles have appeared in Light Metal Age (both in the magazine and online) describing and following the friction stir welding (FSW) process, especially its application in joining aluminum alloys in various forms and tempers, readers should be familiar with its advantages. In the FSW process, aluminum components are joined in the solid […]
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Cover Automakers are moving deeper into the development of electric vehicles. For example, for the first time ever Ford introduced a one-off Mustang Cobra Jet factory drag racer with all-electric propulsion in order to demonstrate the capabilities of electric powertrains. This is one of several models the company has developed with electric and hybrid electric […]
Experienced welders will tell you that, compared to welding steel, welding aluminum and its alloys is not difficult but different. Steel, being one of the common construction materials, most welders and myself included started by learning how to weld steel. As aluminum has especially gained market share in transportation, welding aluminum is challenged in various […]
Lightweighting has been and continues to be a major concern for the aerospace, automotive, and transportation industries. Whether it’s an airplane, automobile, boat, or train, the use of lightweight materials, such as aluminum, provide significant fuel savings and performance benefits. Like its competitors in the lightweighting arena (steel, composites, etc.), aluminum is working to continually […]
