Before anything leaves our facility, our MI Metals team thoroughly inspects the product to ensure every item delivered is prepared to the highest quality level.
With four strategically located plants across the United States, we assure deliveries to any of your desired locations.
Extruded Reliability
We know tight tolerances and repeatability are important to our customers, so we rely on state-of-the-art metallurgical testing equipment to manage material quality control. We stand behind every part produced at MI Metals because our customers deserve to focus on their value chain while feeling confident that our extrusions and service will exceed their requirements.
Extrusion
Testing
- Tensile Testing
- Verifies that extrusions have achieved the proper mechanical properties after tempering in our age ovens.
- Equipment: Instron Tensile Testing Machine
- Verifies that extrusions have achieved the proper mechanical properties after tempering in our age ovens.
- Hardness Testing
- Measures the material’s resistance to deformation, ensuring the extrusion meets the specifications for durability and performance.
- Equipment: Webster Hardness Tester, Barcol Hardness Tester
- Measures the material’s resistance to deformation, ensuring the extrusion meets the specifications for durability and performance.
- Dimensional Verification
- Provides real-time feedback during production to ensure critical dimensions are within tolerance. Measurements are taken at the start of each run and every 10 billets unless otherwise specified.
- Equipment: Keyence Optical Comparator
- Portable inspection method used throughout the production process to perform on-the-spot checks of extrusion dimensions.
- Equipment: Calipers and Micrometers
- Flatness, Twist, and Bow Inspection
- Assesses profile straightness and geometry by checking for warping or bending.
- Equipment: Feeler Gauges
- Provides real-time feedback during production to ensure critical dimensions are within tolerance. Measurements are taken at the start of each run and every 10 billets unless otherwise specified.
Paint
Testing
- Adhesion Test
- Checks how well the paint adheres to the aluminum surface to ensure long-term durability.
- Dry Film Thickness Test
- Measures the thickness of the paint layer to ensure coverage meets specifications.
- Crosshatch Test
- Scores the painted surface in a grid pattern to evaluate adhesion and coating integrity.
- 20-Minute Boil Crosshatch Test
- A variation of the crosshatch test performed after boiling the sample for 20 minutes to simulate extreme conditions.
- Pencil Hardness Test
- Assesses surface hardness by using pencils of varying hardness to scratch the paint surface.
- Color Matching Test
- Ensures painted parts meet specified color standards for visual consistency.
- Gloss Meter Test
- Measures surface reflectivity to ensure proper paint gloss levels.
- Measures surface reflectivity to ensure proper paint gloss levels.
Anodize
Testing
- Mil Coating Thickness Test
- Measures the thickness of the anodized coating to ensure protective and cosmetic standards are met.
- Equipment: Fischer Mil Coating Tester
- Measures the thickness of the anodized coating to ensure protective and cosmetic standards are met.
- Gloss Meter Test
- Evaluates the shine or reflectivity of the anodized surface.
- Equipment: BYK Micro Gloss Meter
- Evaluates the shine or reflectivity of the anodized surface.
- Die Stain Test
- Verifies that the anodize coating has been properly sealed by using a dye penetration method.
Instrument
Calibration
- Calibration & Equipment Verification
- All instruments are verified with calibrated standards prior to use to ensure testing accuracy.
- Equipment is tracked and managed across all plants, and removed from circulation when due for weekly, monthly, or annual calibration.
At MI Metals, we are dedicated to providing our customers with defect-free aluminum extrusions.
We continue to refine and improve our quality management system to assure we can extrude with confidence knowing our products arrive ready for assembly.