Curved profiles/sections have been widely used for manufacturing lightweight structures with high stiffness and strength due to aerodynamics, structural properties, and design reasons. Structural components fabricated using curved aluminum profiles satisfy the increasing demands for products used in many high-technology industries such as aerospace, shipbuilding, high-speed rail train, and automobile, which possess the characteristics of lightweight, high strength/stiffness relative to weight, superior aerodynamics performance, and aesthetics. In this paper, the advances and trends in forming techniques of curved extrusion profiles of metal alloys have been reviewed. The curved profile forming techniques are classified into three major categories: conventional cold bending technique, stress/moment superposed cold bending technique, and extrusion-bending integrated forming technique. Processes for innovative development in the field of forming curved profiles are identified; the extrusion-bending integrated technique which can directly form the billets into curved profiles by one single extrusion operation possesses the full potential for further innovation. Due to the nature of the research to date, much of the work referred to relates to hollow circular and rectangular tube cross-sections.

In this paper, a new type of low-cost Mg-3.36Zn-1.06Sn-0.33Mn-0.27Ca (wt %) alloy ingot with a diameter of 130 mm and a length of 4800 mm was fabricated by semicontinuous casting. The microstructure and mechanical properties at different areas of the ingot were investigated. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloy under different one-step and two-step homogenization conditions were studied. For the as-cast alloy, the average grain size and the second phase size decrease from the center to the surface of the ingot, while the area fraction of the second phase increases gradually. At one-half of the radius of the ingot, the alloy presents the optimum comprehensive mechanical properties along the axial direction, which is attributed to the combined effect of relatively small grain size, low second-phase fraction, and uniform microstructure. For the as-homogenized alloy, the optimum two-step homogenization process parameters were determined as 340 °C × 10 h + 520 °C × 16 h. After the optimum homogenization, the proper size and morphology of CaMgSn phase are conducive to improve the microstructure uniformity and the mechanical properties of the alloy. Besides, the yield strength of the alloy is reduced by 20.7% and the elongation is increased by 56.3%, which is more favorable for the subsequent hot deformation processing.