Aluminium and its properties

Aluminium (Latin alumen, alum) is a chemical element (symbol Al) with an atomic number of 13.

Aluminium is the third most abundant element on earth after oxygen (46.60%) and silicon (22.72%). An estimated 8% of the earth’s crust consists of aluminium. Aluminium is too reactive chemically to occur in nature as the free metal. Instead, it is found combined in different minerals, mainly in silicates and aluminosilicates. The highest concentration of aluminium is found in bauxite.

Aluminium is one of the most widely used metals thanks to its outstanding properties including:

Property	Charakteristics
WEIGHT	The density of aluminium is 2.7 g/cm3, which corresponds to about one third of the density of steel.
STRENGHT	Aluminium alloys have a tensile strength ranging from 70 to 700 MPa. The alloys used most often in extrusion: 150–300 MPa. Unlike most steel grades, aluminium does not become brittle at low temperatures, instead its strength increases. At high temperatures the strength of the metal decreases. If the temperature continuously exceeds 100°C, the strength is affected to such a great extent that it must be taken into account at the designing stage.
LINEAR EXPANSION	Aluminium has a relatively large coefficient of linear expansion compared with other metals.
FORMABILITY	Apart from being suitable for extrusion, aluminium can also be rolled and bent in both hot and cold condition.
MACHINING	Aluminium is easily worked using most machining methods – milling, drilling, punching, cutting, bending, etc.
JOINTING	Aluminium can easily be joined using a number of different techniques such as welding (MIG, TIG and Friction Stir Welding) bonding, taping and cold welding by pressing profiles together.
CONDUCTIVITY	Aluminium is a very good conductor of heat and electricity. An aluminium conductor weighs about half as much as a copper conductor with the same conductivity.
REFLECTIVITY	Aluminium is a good reflector of both visible light and heat radiation.
SCREENING - EMC	Aluminium effectively reduces electromagnetic radiation.
CORROSION RESISTANCE	When aluminium reacts with the oxygen contained in the air, a very thin oxide layer is formed – only some hundredths of a µm in thickness (1 µm is one thousandth of a millimetre). This layer is very tight and provides very good protection against corrosion. If damaged, the oxide layer has the ability to rebuild itself.
NON-MAGNETIC MATERIAL	Aluminium is a non-magnetic (actually paramagnetic) material. To avoid interference of magnetic fields aluminium is often used in magnet X-ray devices.
NON TOXIC	Aluminium is a non-toxic substance and its compounds occur naturally in our food.
RECYCLING	Aluminium is fully recyclable without any loss of quality. Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely, and re-smelting aluminium requires relatively little energy. The recycling process consumes only around 5% of the energy needed to produce the original primary metal.

Updated: 2012-04-02

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Aluminium and its properties

Aluminium is one of the most widely used metals thanks to its outstanding properties including:

Property

Charakteristics

WEIGHT

The density of aluminium is 2.7 g/cm3, which corresponds to about one third of the density of steel.

STRENGHT

LINEAR EXPANSION

Aluminium has a relatively large coefficient of linear expansion compared with other metals.

FORMABILITY

Apart from being suitable for extrusion, aluminium can also be rolled and bent in both hot and cold condition.

MACHINING

Aluminium is easily worked using most machining methods – milling, drilling, punching, cutting, bending, etc.

JOINTING

Aluminium can easily be joined using a number of different techniques such as welding (MIG, TIG and Friction Stir Welding) bonding, taping and cold welding by pressing profiles together.

CONDUCTIVITY

Aluminium is a very good conductor of heat and electricity. An aluminium conductor weighs about half as much as a copper conductor with the same conductivity.

REFLECTIVITY

Aluminium is a good reflector of both visible light and heat radiation.

SCREENING - EMC

Aluminium effectively reduces electromagnetic radiation.

CORROSION

RESISTANCE

NON-MAGNETIC

MATERIAL

Aluminium is a non-magnetic (actually paramagnetic) material. To avoid interference of magnetic fields aluminium is often used in magnet X-ray devices.

NON TOXIC

Aluminium is a non-toxic substance and its compounds occur naturally in our food.

RECYCLING

Aluminium is fully recyclable without any loss of quality.Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely, and re-smelting aluminium requires relatively little energy. The recycling process consumes only around 5% of the energy needed to produce the original primary metal.

Aluminium is fully recyclable without any loss of quality.
Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely, and re-smelting aluminium requires relatively little energy. The recycling process consumes only around 5% of the energy needed to produce the original primary metal.