6. Extrude the Metal
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From Billet to Sheet
The solid metal forms referred to as "billets" are dislodged from the steel containers and transported to the billet oven (shown at right), where they are reheated for 15 minutes at approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit in preparation for the next step in the process. Using specially designed channel locks to collect the heated billets from the oven, technicians load the billets into a massive machine called an extruder, which operates under extreme pressure to fashion the heated forms into thin strips of soft, annealed metal.
The extruded strips are then sent to the roller, where they are rolled to precise thicknesses.
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