Aluminum Alloy
Admired for its lightweight, high strength to weight ratio, high corrosion resistance, high thermal and electrical conductivity, and ease of machinability, aluminum is often referred to as "the wonder metal" and is considered the ideal material choice for a variety of today's critical applications. Aluminum Alloy is used extensively in modern aircraft due to its high strength to weight ratio. Aluminum Alloy is available in cold finished and extruded rod and bar, plate, pipe and tubing, and sheet. We can provide material in standard sizes, or custom processed to meet your specific requirements.
Product details
The International Alloy Designation System is the most widely accepted naming scheme for wrought alloys. Each alloy is given a four-digit number, where the first digit indicates the major alloying elements.
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1000 series are essentially pure aluminum with a minimum 99% aluminum content by weight and can be work hardened.
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2000 series are alloyed with copper, can be precipitation hardened to strengths comparable to steel. Formerly referred to as duralumin, they were once the most common aerospace alloys, but were susceptible to stress corrosion cracking and are increasingly replaced by 7000 series in new designs.
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3000 series are alloyed with manganese, and can be work-hardened.
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4000 series are alloyed with silicon. They are also known as silumin.
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5000 series are alloyed with magnesium, derive most of their strength from work hardening. It is suitable for cryogenic applications and low temperature work. However is susceptible to corrosion above 60°C.
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6000 series are alloyed with magnesium and silicon, are easy to machine, and can be precipitation-hardened, but not to the high strengths that 2000, and 7000 can reach.
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7000 series are alloyed with zinc, and can be precipitation hardened to the highest strengths of any aluminum alloy.
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8000 series is a category mainly used for lithium alloys.
Heat temper grades for Aluminum: O,T3,T351, T3511, T4, T42, T6, T651, T6511,T7,T8
Aerospace Alloys
The following aluminum alloys are commonly used in aircraft and other aerospace structures:
7075 is an aluminum alloy, with zinc as the primary alloying element. It is strong, with good fatigue strength and average machinability, but has less resistance to corrosion than many other alloys. Its relatively high cost limits its use to applications where cheaper alloys are not suitable.7075 aluminum alloy's composition includes 5.1-6.1% zinc, 2.1-2.9% magnesium, 1.2-2.0% copper, and less than half a percent of silicon, iron, manganese, titanium, chromium, and other metals. It is commonly produced in several heat temper grades, 7075-O, 7075-T351, 7075-T6, 7075-T651, .
7050 Aluminum alloy is the premier choice for aerospace applications requiring the best combination of strength, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) resistance and toughness. It is particularly suited for plate applications in the 3 to 6 inch (76.20 to 152.40mm) thickness range. Alloy 7050 exhibits better toughness/corrosion resistance characteristics than alloy 7075. Because it is less quench sensitive than most aerospace aluminum alloys, 7050 retains its strength properties in thicker sections while maintaining good stress corrosion cracking resistance and fracture toughness levels.
6061 is a precipitation hardening aluminum alloy, containing magnesium and silicon as its major alloying elements. It has good mechanical properties and exhibits good weldability. It is one of the most common alloys of aluminum for general purpose use.It is commonly available in pre-tempered grades such as, 6061-O (solutionized), 6061-T6 (solutionized and artificially aged), 6061-T651 (solutionized, stress-relieved stretched and artificially aged).
6063 is an aluminum alloy, with magnesium and silicon as the alloying elements. The standard controlling its composition is maintained by The Aluminum Association. It has generally good mechanical properties and is heat treatable and weldable. It is similar to the British aluminum alloy HE9.6063 is mostly used in extruded shapes for architecture, particularly window frames, door frames, and roofs. It is typically produced with very smooth surfaces fit for anodizing. It is commonly produced in several heat temper grades 6063-O, 6063-T1, 6063-T4, 6063-T5, 6063-T6. It is also produced in tempers T52, T53, T54, T55, and T832, with various improved properties.
2024 is an aluminum alloy, with copper and magnesium as the alloying elements. It is used in applications requiring high strength to weight ratio, as well as good fatigue resistance. It is not weldable, and has average machinability. Due to poor corrosion resistance, it is often clad with aluminum or Al-1Zn for protection, although this may reduce the fatigue strength. 2024 is widely used in aircraft structures, especially wing and fuselage structures under tension.
2124 aluminum alloy plate was developed primarily for elevated temperature applications requiring guaranteed fracture toughness and improved short transverse properties in plate gauges over 1.0 inches (25.40 mm) thick. This plate alloy also exhibits good strength retention and creep resistance at elevated temperatures up to 350° F (177°C). Fracture toughness levels of 2124-T851 plate are substantially higher than 2024-T851. Alloy 2124-T851 is recommended for moderately elevated temperature applications (250-350°F, 121-177°C) requiring better short-transverse ductility and fracture toughness guarantees than are available with 2024-T851 plate. The primary use is machined fuselage bulkheads and wing skins in high-performance military aircraft.
Marine Alloys
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These alloys are used for boat building and shipbuilding, and other marine and salt-water sensitive shore applications.
5052 is one of the higher strength non-heat-treatable alloys. It has a high fatigue strength and is a good choice for structures subjected to excessive vibration. The alloy has excellent corrosion resistance, particularly in marine atmospheres. The formability of the grade is excellent and in the annealed condition it offers higher strengths than 1100 or 3003 grades.
5083 is an aluminum alloy suitable for cryogenic applications down to design temperatures of minus 165 °C, since alloys of this type do not show the ductile/brittle transition phenomenon. Apart from aluminum, the main other ingredient is magnesium.
5086 is an aluminum alloy, primarily alloyed with magnesium. It is not strengthened by heat treatment, instead becoming stronger due to strain hardening, or cold mechanical working of the material.Since heat treatment doesn't strongly affect the strength, 5086 can be readily welded and retain most of its mechanical strength. The good results with welding and good corrosion properties in seawater make 5086 extremely popular for building boat and yacht hulls.