Metals that are commonly extruded include:
Aluminium is the most commonly extruded material. Aluminium can be hot or cold extruded. If it is hot extruded it is heated to 575 to 1100 °F (300 to 600 °C). Examples of products include profiles for tracks, frames, rails, mullions, and heat sinks.

Copper (1100 to 1825 °F (600 to 1000 °C)) pipe, wire, rods, bars, tubes, and welding electrodes. Often more than 100 ksi (690 MPa) is required to extrude copper.

Lead and tin (maximum 575 °F (300 °C)) pipes, wire, tubes, and cable sheathing. Molten lead may also be used in place of billets on vertical extrusion presses.

Magnesium (575 to 1100 °F (300 to 600 °C)) aircraft parts and nuclear industry parts.

Magnesium is about as extrudable as aluminum.

Zinc (400 to 650 °F (200 to 350 °C)) rods, bar, tubes, hardware components, fitting, and handrails.

Steel (1825 to 2375 °F (1000 to 1300 °C)) rods and tracks. Usually plain carbon steel is extruded, but alloy steel and stainless steel can also be extruded.

Titanium (1100 to 1825 °F (600 to 1000 °C)) aircraft components including seat tracks, engine rings, and other structural parts.

Tungsten carbide this is one of the most commonly used extruded metals due to its extreme toughness and ability to withhold its own form. Magnesium and aluminium alloys usually have a 0.75 μm (30 μin). RMS or better surface finish. Titanium and steel can achieve a 3 μm (125 μin). RMS.

In 1950, Ugine Séjournet, of France, invented a process which uses glass as a lubricant for extruding steel. The Ugine-Sejournet, or Sejournet, process is now used for other materials that have melting temperatures higher than steel or that require a narrow range of temperatures to extrude.

The process starts by heating the materials to the extruding temperature and then rolling it in glass powder. The glass melts and forms a thin film, 20 to 30 mils (0.5 to 0.75 mm), in order to separate it from chamber walls and allow it to act as a lubricant. A thick solid glass ring that is 0.25 to 0.75 in (6 to 18 mm) thick is placed in the chamber on the die to lubricate the extrusion as it is forced through the die.

A second advantage of this glass ring is its ability to insulate the heat of the billet from the die. The extrusion will have a 1 mil thick layer of glass, which can be easily removed once it cools.

Another breakthrough in lubrication is the use of phosphate coatings. With this process, in conjunction with glass lubrication, steel can be cold extruded. The phosphate coat absorbs the liquid glass to offer even better lubricating properties.

Plastic
Plastic extrusion commonly uses plastic chips or pellets, which are usually dried in a hopper before going to the feed screw. The polymer resin is heated to molten state by a combination of heating elements and shear heating from the extrusion screw.

The screw forces the resin through a die, forming the resin into the desired shape. The extrudate is cooled and solidified as it is pulled through the die or water tank. In some cases (such as fibre-reinforced tubes) the extrudate is pulled through a very long die, in a process called pultrusion.
A multitude of polymers are used in the production of plastic tubing, pipes, rods, rails, seals, and sheets or films.

Ceramic
Ceramic can also be formed into shapes via extrusion. Terracotta extrusion is used to produce pipes. Many modern bricks are also manufactured using a brick extrusion process.

Food
Extrusion has found great application in food processing. Products such as pastas, breakfast cereals, Fig Newtons, cookie dough, Sevai, Idiappam, jalebi, french fries, baby food, dry pet food and ready-to-eat snacks are mostly manufactured by extrusion. In the extrusion process, raw materials are first ground to the correct particle size (usually the consistency of coarse flour). The dry mix is passed through a pre-conditioner, where other ingredients are added (liquid sugar, fats, dyes, meats and water depending on the product being made), steam is also injected to start the cooking process.

The preconditioned mix is then passed through an extruder, and then forced through a die where it is cut to the desired length. The cooking process takes place within the extruder where the product produces its own friction and heat due to the pressure generated (10–20 bar). The cooking process utilizes a process known as starch gelatinization. Extruders using this process have a capacity from 1–25 tonnes per hour depending on design.

Use of the extrusion cooking process gives the following food benefits:

Starch gelatinization

Protein denaturation

Inactivation of raw food enzymes

Destruction of naturally occurring toxins

Diminishing of microorganisms in the final product

Drug carriers

Extrusion through nano-porous, polymeric filters is being used to manufacture suspensions of lipid vesicles liposomes or Transfersomes for use in pharmaceutical products. The anti-cancer drug Doxorubicin in liposome delivery system is formulated by extrusion, for example.