As 15 years experiences CNC machine shop, aluminum is the most common material used in our company. However there are many different types of aluminum material and different name in every country. In order to help clients learn more about aluminum material before machining, and choose the best type to their design, that’s why the article is here.
Aluminum and Aluminum Alloy
Pure aluminum
Aluminum is characterized by a small density of 2.72g / cm3, only about one-third of iron or copper density. Good electric conductivity and thermal conductivity, second only to silver and copper. The chemical nature of aluminum is very lively, in the air aluminum surface can be combined with oxygen to form a layer of dense Al2O3 protective film, to prevent further oxidation of aluminum. Therefore, aluminum has good corrosion resistance in the air and water, but aluminum has poor acid, alkali and salt resistance. Pure aluminum is mainly used to make wires, cables, radiators etc.
Aluminum Alloy
According to the composition of aluminum alloy and production process characteristics, aluminum alloy can be divided into deformation of aluminum and cast aluminum alloy.
Deformed aluminum alloy
Deformed aluminum alloy can be divided into anti-rust aluminum, hard aluminum, super-hard aluminum and forged aluminum according to its main performance characteristics.
A. anti-rust aluminum
The main alloying elements are Mn and Mg. This type of alloy is a single-phase solid solution after forged annealing, so it has good corrosion resistance, good plasticity, this type of alloy is mainly used for small load rolling, welding, or corrosion-resistant structural parts, such as fuel tanks, ducts, wire, light load As well as a variety of living utensils and so on.
B. hard aluminum
Basically Al-Cu-Mg alloy, also contains a small amount of Mn, the corrosion resistance is poor, especially in seawater. Hard aluminum is a higher strength than the structural materials, in the aviation industry and equipment manufacturing has been widely used.
C. super-hard aluminum
It is Al-Cu-Mg-Zn alloy, that is, added Zn element on the basis of hard aluminum. This type of alloy is the highest strength of the aluminum alloy, so called super-hard aluminum. Disadvantage is poor corrosion resistance, and often used for manufacturing strong force components, such as aircraft beams and so on.
D. forged aluminum
Al-Cu-Mg-Si alloy, although it has many alloy types, but each element has trace amount, so it has good thermoplastic and corrosion resistance, the strength is similar with hard aluminum. Due to good forging performance, it is mainly used for heavy duty forgings or die forgings for aircraft or diesel locomotives.
Cast aluminium alloy
According to which the main alloy elements Cast aluminum alloy can be divided into: Al-Si, Al-Cu, Al-Mg, Al-Zn and so on.
Which Al-Si alloy has a good casting performance, sufficient strength, small density, the most widely used. Cast aluminum alloy is generally used for the production of light weight, corrosion resistance, complex shape parts. Such as aluminum gold piston, instrument shell, water-cooled engine cylinder parts, crankcase and so on.
Post time: Jan-07-2021