Aluminium
| Products Round, Flat, Square, Hexagon, Tee, Channel, Angle, Special Extrusions.Flanges, Welded Pipe, Extruded Pipe..Hollow Bar.Sheet, Plate, Strip In Coil.Box Section, Rectangular Section.Tread PlateForgingsCastingsSpecials To Order | Grades 1350A (1E)1050A (1B)1200 (1C)2011 (FC1)2014A (H15)20303103 (N3)5005A (N41)5251 (N4)5754 (N5)6061 (H20)6063 (H9)6082 (H30)6262 | Services Shearing, Plate Sawing, Plate Circle Cutting, Bar/Tube Sawing, Polishing, Bar Boring, Folding & Rolling, Machining |
Aluminium is an important material in a large cross section of industries. It is suitable for forming, welding and machining and provides the following advantages;
- Non – Magnetic
- Good electrical conductivity; about 60% that of Copper but reduced by the presence of alloying elements
- Highly economic to recycle
- High specific strength
- High corrosion fatigue resistance
- Low specific gravity approximately 1/3 of steel
Although available in a number of grades, Aluminium can be divided into two major categories of wrought alloys;
Work Hardening Alloys
These alloys ie., Non heat treatable, include commercially pure aluminium and the alloys including manganese or magnesium. The degree of work hardening is expressed as a temper “H”. these alloys can be fully or partly softened by annealing at 350 – 400 deg Celcius.
| Old Symbol | New Symbol | Description |
| O | O | Annealed, soft |
| F | M | As fabricated |
| H12 | H2 | Strain-hardened, quarter hard |
| H14 | H4 | Strain-hardened, half hard |
| H16 | H6 | Strain-hardened, three quarter hard |
| H18 | H8 | Strain-hardened, fully hard |
| H22 | H2 | Strain-hardened, partially annealed, quarter hard |
| H24 | H4 | Strain-hardened, partially annealed, half hard |
| H26 | H6 | Strain-hardened, partially annealed, three quarter hard |
Heat Treatable Alloys
Heat treatable alloys or precipitation hardening alloys include copper, magnesium, zinc and silicon as important constituents. For these alloys, the designation system uses the letter “T” following the grade;
| T3 | Solution heat-treated, cold worked and naturally aged to a substantially stable condition. The designation applies to products which are cold worked to improve strength after solution heat-treatment, or in which the effect of cold work in flattening or straightening is recognised in mechanical property limits. |
| T4 | Solution heat-treated and naturally aged to a substantially stable condition |
| T6 | Solution heat-treated and then artificially aged. The designation applies to products which are not cold worked after solution heat-treatment, or in which the effect of cold work in flattening or straightening may not be recognised in mechanical property limits. |
| T7 | Solution heat-treatment and then artificially aged. This designation applies to products which are artificially aged after solution heat-treament to carry beyond the point of maximum strength to provide control of some significant characteristic other than mechanical properties |
| T8 | Solution heat-treated, cold worked and then artificially aged. The designation applies to products which are cold worked to improve strength, or in which the effect of cold work in flattening or straightening is recognised in mechanical property limits. |
| T9 | Solution heat-treated, artificially aged and then cold worked. This designation applies to products which are cold worked to improve strength. |
| T651 | Solution heat-treated, stress relieved by stretching a controlled amount (permanent set 0.5% to 3% for sheet; 1.5% to 3% for plate; 1% to 3% for rolled or cold-finished rod and bar) and then artificially aged. The products receiev no further straightening after stretching. |
European Specifications with British Standard Comparison
| EN Number | Content | BS1470:1987 | BS1474:1987 |
| EN 485-1 | Technical conditions for inspection and delivery | ** | |
| EN 485-2 | Mechanical Properties | ** | |
| EN 485-3 | Tolerances on shape and dimensions for hot rolled products | ** | |
| EN 485-4 | Tolerances on shape and dimension for cold rolled products | ** | |
| EN 515 | Temper designations | ** | ** |
| EN 573-3 | Chemical composition | ** | ** |
| EN 573-4 | Forms of products | ** | ** |
| EN 755-1 | Technical conditions for inspection and delivery | ** | |
| EN 755-2 | Mechanical properties | ** | |
| EN 755-3 | Round bars, tolerances on dimension and form | ** | |
| EN 755-4 | Square bars, tolerances on dimension and form | ** | |
| EN 755-5 | Rectangular bars, tolerances on dimensions and form | ** | |
| EN 755-6 | Hexagonal bars, tolerances on dimension and form | ** | |
| EN 755-7 | Seamless tubes, tolerances on dimension and form | ** | |
| EN 755-8 | Porthole tubes, tolerances on dimension and form | ** | |
| EN 755-9 * | Profile tolerances on dimension and forms | ** |
(*) = Due for publication (**) = How European relates to old British Standards