Background

Aluminium is the world’s most abundant metal and is the third most common element comprising 8% of the earth’s crust. The versatility of aluminium makes it the most widely used metal after steel.
Production Of Aluminium

Aluminium is derived from the mineral bauxite. Bauxite is converted to aluminium oxide (alumina) via the Bayer Process. The alumina is then converted to aluminium metal using electrolytic cells and the Hall-Heroult Process.
Annual Demand

Worldwide demand for aluminium is around 29 million tons per year. About 22 million tons is new aluminium and 7 million tons is recycled aluminium scrap. The use of recycled aluminium is economically and environmentally compelling. It takes 14,000 kWh to produce 1 tonne of new aluminium. Conversely it takes only 5% of this to remelt and recycle one tonne of aluminium. There is no difference in quality between virgin and recycled aluminium alloys.
Applications

Pure aluminium is soft, ductile, corrosion resistant and has a high electrical conductivity. It is widely used for foil and conductor cables, but alloying with other elements is necessary to provide the higher strengths needed for other applications. Aluminium is one of the lightest engineering metals, having a strength to weight ratio superior to steel.

By utilising various combinations of its advantageous properties such as strength, lightness, corrosion resistance, recyclability and formability, aluminium is being employed in an ever-increasing number of applications. This array of products ranges from structural materials through to thin packaging foils.
Alloy Designations

Aluminium is most commonly alloyed with copper, zinc, magnesium, silicon, manganese and lithium. Small additions of chromium, titanium, zirconium, lead, bismuth and nickel are also made and iron is invariably present in small quantities.

There are over 300 wrought alloys with 50 in common use. They are normally identified by a four figure system which originated in the USA and is now universally accepted. Table 1 describes the system for wrought alloys. Cast alloys have similar designations and use a five digit system.

Table 1. Designations for wrought aluminium alloys.

Alloying Element


Wrought

None (99%+ Aluminium)


1XXX

Copper


2XXX

Manganese


3XXX

Silicon


4XXX

Magnesium


5XXX

Magnesium + Silicon


6XXX

Zinc


7XXX

Lithium


8XXX

For unalloyed wrought aluminium alloys designated 1XXX, the last two digits represent the purity of the metal. They are the equivalent to the last two digits after the decimal point when aluminium purity is expressed to the nearest 0.01 percent. The second digit indicates modifications in impurity limits. If the second digit is zero, it indicates unalloyed aluminium having natural impurity limits and 1 through 9, indicate individual impurities or alloying elements.

For the 2XXX to 8XXX groups, the last two digits identify different aluminium alloys in the group. The second digit indicates alloy modifications. A second digit of zero indicates the original alloy and integers 1 to 9 indicate consecutive alloy modifications.
Physical Properties
Density

Aluminium has a density around one third that of steel or copper making it one of the lightest commercially available metals. The resultant high strength to weight ratio makes it an important structural material allowing increased payloads or fuel savings for transport industries in particular.
Strength

Pure aluminium doesn’t have a high tensile strength. However, the addition of alloying elements like manganese, silicon, copper and magnesium can increase the strength properties of aluminium and produce an alloy with properties tailored to particular applications.

Aluminium is well suited to cold environments. It has the advantage over steel in that its’ tensile strength increases with decreasing temperature while retaining its toughness. Steel on the other hand becomes brittle at low temperatures.
Corrosion Resistance

When exposed to air, a layer of aluminium oxide forms almost instantaneously on the surface of aluminium. This layer has excellent resistance to corrosion. It is fairly resistant to most acids but less resistant to alkalis.
Thermal Conductivity

The thermal conductivity of aluminium is about three times greater than that of steel. This makes aluminium an important material for both cooling and heating applications such as heat-exchangers. Combined with it being non-toxic this property means aluminium is used extensively in cooking utensils and kitchenware.

Electrical Conductivity

Along with copper, aluminium has an electrical conductivity high enough for use as an electrical conductor. Although the conductivity of the commonly used conducting alloy (1350) is only around 62% of annealed copper, it is only one third the weight and can therefore conduct twice as much electricity when compared with copper of the same weight.
Reflectivity

From UV to infra-red, aluminium is an excellent reflector of radiant energy. Visible light reflectivity of around 80% means it is widely used in light fixtures. The same properties of reflectivity makes aluminium ideal as an insulating material to protect against the sun’s rays in summer, while insulating against heat loss in winter.

Table 2. Typical properties for aluminium.

Property


Value

Atomic Number


13

Atomic Weight (g/mol)


26.98

Valency


3

Crystal Structure


FCC

Melting Point (°C)


660.2

Boiling Point (°C)


2480

Mean Specific Heat (0-100°C) (cal/g.°C)


0.219

Thermal Conductivity (0-100°C) (cal/cms. °C)


0.57

Co-Efficient of Linear Expansion (0-100°C) (x10-6/°C)


23.5

Electrical Resistivity at 20°C (µΩ.cm)


2.69

Density (g/cm3)


2.6898

Modulus of Elasticity (GPa)


68.3

Poissons Ratio


0.34
Mechanical Properties

Aluminium can be severely deformed without failure. This allows aluminium to be formed by rolling, extruding, drawing, machining and other mechanical processes. It can also be cast to a high tolerance.

Alloying, cold working and heat-treating can all be utilised to tailor the properties of aluminium.

The tensile strength of pure aluminium is around 90 MPa but this can be increased to over 690 MPa for some heat-treatable alloys.

Table 3. Mechanical properties of selected aluminium alloys.

Alloy


Temper


Proof Stress 0.2% (MPa)


Tensile Strength (MPa)


Shear Strength (MPa)


Elongation A5 (%)


Hardness Vickers (HV)

AA1050A


H12

H14

H16

H18

0


85

105

120

140

35


100

115

130

150

80


60

70

80

85

50


12

10

7

6

42


30

36

-

44

20

AA2011


T3

T6


290

300


365

395


220

235


15

12


100

115

AA3103


H14

0


140

45


155

105


90

70


9

29


46

29

AA4015


0

H12

H14

H16

H18


45

110

135

155

180


110-150

135-175

160-200

185-225

210-250


-

-

-

-

-


20

4

3

2

2


30-40

45-55

-

-

-

AA5083


H32

0/H111


240

145


330

300


185

175


17

23


95

75

AA5251


H22

H24

H26

0


165

190

215

80


210

230

255

180


125

135

145

115


14

13

9

26


65

70

75

46

AA5754


H22

H24

H26

0


185

215

245

100


245

270

290

215


150

160

170

140


15

14

10

25


75

80

85

55

AA6063


0

T4

T6


50

90

210


100

160

245


70

11

150


27

21

14


85

50

80

AA6082


0

T4

T6


60

170

310


130

260

340


85

170

210


27

19

11


35

75

100

AA6262


T6

T9


240

330


290

360


-

-


8

3


-

-

AA7075


0

T6


105-145

435-505


225-275

510-570


150

350


9

5


65

160
Aluminium Standards

The old BS1470 standard has been replaced by nine EN standards. The EN standards are given in table 4.

Table 4. EN standards for aluminium

Standard


Scope

EN485-1


Technical conditions for inspection and delivery

EN485-2


Mechanical properties

EN485-3


Tolerances for hot rolled material

EN485-4


Tolerances for cold rolled material

EN515


Temper designations

EN573-1


Numerical alloy designation system

EN573-2


Chemical symbol designation system

EN573-3


Chemical compositions

EN573-4


Product forms in different alloys

The EN standards differ from the old standard, BS1470 in the following areas:

· Chemical compositions – unchanged.

· Alloy numbering system – unchanged.

· Temper designations for heat treatable alloys now cover a wider range of special tempers. Up to four digits after the T have been introduced for non-standard applications (e.g. T6151).

· Temper designations for non heat treatable alloys – existing tempers are unchanged but tempers are now more comprehensively defined in terms of how they are created. Soft (O) temper is now H111 and an intermediate temper H112 has been introduced. For alloy 5251 tempers are now shown as H32/H34/H36/H38 (equivalent to H22/H24, etc). H19/H22 & H24 are now shown separately.

· Mechanical properties – remain similar to previous figures. 0.2% Proof Stress must now be quoted on test certificates.

· Tolerances have been tightened to various degrees.

Heat Treatment

A range of heat treatments can be applied to aluminium alloys:

· Homogenisation – the removal of segregation by heating after casting.

· Annealing – used after cold working to soften work-hardening alloys (1XXX, 3XXX and 5XXX).

· Precipitation or age hardening (alloys 2XXX, 6XXX and 7XXX).

· Solution heat treatment before ageing of precipitation hardening alloys.

· Stoving for the curing of coatings

After heat treatment a suffix is added to the designation numbers.

· The suffix F means “as fabricated”.

· O means “annealed wrought products”.

· T means that it has been “heat treated”.

· W means the material has been solution heat treated.

· H refers to non heat treatable alloys that are “cold worked” or “strain hardened”.

The non-heat treatable alloys are those in the 3XXX, 4XXX and 5XXX groups.

Table 5. Heat treatment designations for aluminium and aluminium alloys.

Term


Description

T1


Cooled from an elevated temperature shaping process and naturally aged.

T2


Cooled from an elevated temperature shaping process cold worked and naturally aged.

T3


Solution heat-treated cold worked and naturally aged to a substantially.

T4


Solution heat-treated and naturally aged to a substantially stable condition.

T5


Cooled from an elevated temperature shaping process and then artificially aged.

T6


Solution heat-treated and then artificially aged.

T7


Solution heat-treated and overaged/stabilised.
Work Hardening

The non-heat treatable alloys can have their properties adjusted by cold working. Cold rolling is a typical example.

These adjusted properties depend upon the degree of cold work and whether working is followed by any annealing or stabilising thermal treatment.

Nomenclature to describe these treatments uses a letter, O, F or H followed by one or more numbers. As outlined in Table 6, the first number refers to the worked condition and the second number the degree of tempering.