The word extrusion comes from Latin roots, from the word “extrusĭo”, “extrusiōnis” which means forcing. Other sources state that it comes from the Latin "extrudere" which means to expel. In general extrusion is the action and effect of extruding; On the other hand, in a more specific way, it can be defined as that process of pressing, modeling and shaping a certain raw material to create certain objects with defined and fixed cross-sections, by means of a continuous flow with pressure, tension or force.
This extrusion process was patented in 1797 by a British mechanic and inventor named Joseph Bramah, when he tried to make a lead pipe. Process that was based on preheating the metal and then passing it through a die through a plunger by hand. But it was until 1820 when this process was developed by Tomas Burr who built the first hydraulic press, and it was until then that the process was called "squirting". Later Alexander Dick propagated the extrusion process to bronze and copper alloys.
Some of the main advantages that extrusion offers beyond the manufactured processes are the dexterity or ease to originate transverse sections of extreme complexity with materials that are brittle and breakable, since the material only achieves compression and shear forces.
Generally the materials used for the extrusion process are metals, ceramics, polymers, concrete and food products. In addition, extrusion can be continuous, which is carried out indefinitely producing long materials; or on the other hand semi-continuous, which is made by producing many parts. And finally the process can be carried out with hot or cold material.
