Abstract: An improved hood assembly for controllably cooling extruded section members of aluminium and other metal materials at an output of an extruding line therefor, characterized in that said hood assembly comprises a plurality of air delivery spouts inclined according to angles varying from 20° to 60° with respect to a sliding longitudinal direction of said section member through said cooling line.

Abstract: A method for carrying out a controlled cooling thermal processing of aluminium billets or other metal materials to be extruded, characterized in that said billets, at a temperature of about 560° C., are arranged one at a time on a horizontally arranged cradle, including locking jaws, said cradle, with a billet arranged therein, being rotatively driven through 90° about a horizontal pivot pin thereby performing a partial controlled immersion, at one end portion thereof, into a water basin having a temperature equal to or slightly larger than an environment temperature.