General Aluminum

Information
Contents
1. Introduction

2. Aluminum Alloy
2.1 Definition
2.2 Alloy Numbers

3. Tempering
3.1 Definition
3.2 Temper Letters
1-Introduction
2. Aluminum Alloy (AA)
• What is aluminum alloy?
An aluminum alloy is an alloy primarily of pure aluminum, mixed with
different alloying elements that give rise to an entire range of materials,
each of which is designed to maximize a particular characteristics such as
strength, ductility, formability, machinability, or electrical conductivity.

• Alloy numbers
These numbers refer to a specific chemical composition of the aluminum
alloy – the “recipe” of the metal. Pure aluminum is not a very useful
product in any structural work – aluminum products almost without
exception are produced from batches of pure aluminum mixed with a
number of alloying elements. For example, an aluminum alloy that is
easily extruded, maybe difficult to machine, or an alloy that machines
well, may be difficult to weld, etc. That is why there are so many
different products in so many different alloys.
Common Aluminum Alloy (AA)
• The Alloys
1. Alloy 1100 – A low strength but very workable alloy with excellent
corrosion resistance. It is not heat treatable. It is easily welded,
however it is soft and spalls when machined.
1100-O: Annealed (or “soft”, bendable condition).
1100-H14: Strain Hardened.
2. Alloy 2011 – A free machining, heat treatable alloy, with fair corrosion
resistance, but not easily welded.
2011-T3: Heat treated, cold worked and naturally aged.
3. Alloy 2024 – Heat treatable with high strength , good machinability
and fair corrosion resistance. It welds very poorly.
2024-O: Annealed (or “soft”, bendable condition).
2024-T3: Heat treated, cold worked and naturally aged.
2024-T351: Heat treated, cold worked and naturally aged.
(2024 sheet, plate and extrusions are used extensively for the fuselages
and lower portion of the wings of civilian and military transport aircraft)
Common Aluminum Alloy (AA)
4. Alloy 3003 – This alloy is not heat treatable but welds very
well and has very good workability. Like alloy 1100 it is
somewhat soft and difficult to machine.
3003-H14: Strain hardened. (Commonly for Panel and plates).
3003-H22: Strain hardened, partially annealed.
(3XXX is used for flexible packaging such as frozen food trays,
residential siding and industrial and farm roofing. Also cooking
utensils, gutters and downspouts)

5. Alloy 5005 – Poor machinability, good workability and weld

very well. It finishes very well, and offers excellent corrosion
resistance.
5005-H34: Strain hardened and stabilized. (Commonly for
Aluminum sheets).

6. Alloy 5052 – Strong, not heat treatable, easily welded, with

excellent corrosion characteristics.
5052-O: Annealed (or “soft”, bendable condition).
5052-H32: Strain hardened and stabilized.
Common Aluminum Alloy (AA)
7. Alloy 5086 – Very Strong, not heat treatable, with excellent
corrosion resistance and good weldability.
5086-H116: Strain hardened only.
5086-H32: Strain hardened and stabilized.
5086-H34: Strain hardened and stabilized.
8. Alloy 6061 – Heat treatable, easily welded, with very good
corrosion resistance and finishing characteristics. (Commonly used
for architectural products. Also employed in transportation industry
in trucks, boats and railroad cars, as well as for furniture, pipelines
and heavy-duty structures requiring good corrosion resistance).
6061-O: Strain hardened only.
6061-T4: Heat treated and naturally aged.
6061-T6: Heat treated and artificially aged. (Use for mullion,
transom and other critical framing members. Can be use for
structural splice and anchor clips).
6061-T65: Heat treated and artificially aged.
6061-T6511: Heat treated and artificially aged.
Common Aluminum Alloy (AA)
9. Alloy 6063 – This heat treatable is specially designed for extrusions, very popular for
architectural shapes.
6063-T5: Non-structural Profiles. (e.g. Sash, operable shutter, mid-frame, reducer, cover
cap, locking bar, sliding window profiles, sub-frame, etc.).
6063-T6: Interior horizontal and vertical trim member. (same sample as 6063-T5).
6063-T52: Cooled from an elevated temperature shaping process and artificially aged.
10. Alloy 7050 – High strength, excellent corrosion resistance, heat treatable, and weldable,
but has poor workability.
7050-T7451: Heat treated, over-aged and strengthened.
11. Alloy 7075 – Heat treatable, this alloy is the strongest and hardest aluminum alloy. It
has good machining characteristics but is not very easily welded nor it is very workable.
7075-O: Annealed (or “soft”, bendable condition).
7075-T6: Heat treated and artificially aged.
7075-T651: Heat treated and artificially aged.
(Use mainly for aircraft industry).
Other Aluminum Alloy (AA)
1. Alloy 2014 – forging application in the transportation industry.
2. Alloy 2036 & 2008 – use for automotive industry.
3. Alloy 2219 – used for fuel and oxidizer tanks of space vehicles.
4. Alloy 3004 – used for aluminum beverage containers
5. Alloy 3105 – used for siding & roofing.
6. Alloy 5056 & 5083 - is used in appliances, utensils, sheet-metal works,
pressure vessels, television towers, welded structures, boats and chemical
storage tanks. Screens, nails and other fasteners are made from this alloy.
7. Alloy 5182 – lid of beverage cans.
8. Alloy 6009 & 6010 – used for hoods and deck lids of automobiles.
9. Alloy 6013 – application in aircraft construction.
10. Alloy 6201 – wire has proved suitable for electrical conductor cable.
11. Alloy 7005 – used in ground transportation industry.
12. Alloy 7150 – use for upper wing skin of commercial aircraft.
Designation of Aluminum Wrought
Alloys
First Digit Elements
• The 3XXX and 5XXX products are
1 Al*
strengthened by working them at
2 Cu
room temperature to induce strain
3 Mn
hardening, while 2XXX, 6XXX and
4 Si
7XXX are achieve their highest
5 Mg
strengths by heat treatment to
6 Mg-Si
promote precipitation of the major
7 Zn
8 Others alloying elements.
• Al* is almost pure aluminum.
3. Temper
Temper is a measure of metal’s resistance to bending or kinking.
It does refer to how hard the metal is. Low temper such as H-1
(also referred to as “1/8 hard”), indicates a tendency to bend or
kink permanently when subjected to very little force. High temper,
such as H-8 or “Full Hard”, indicates a tendency to spring back
upon bending.

• Temper Letters

The letters that appear after each alloy number refer to the
“temper” of the alloy itself and are independent of the alloy. This
means that a single alloy can be available in a variety of tempers
and a variety of alloys can be available in the same temper.
Temper Letters
1. F temper (as fabricated tempers).
This letter indicates that there has been no effort to control the
temper of the material – you receive it “as is”.

2. O temper (annealed temper).

Annealing is a process of heating up metal past a critical
temperature whereby the material is relieved of the internal
stresses from production or fabrication. It is the lowest temper
available (the most easily bent).

3. W temper (solution heat treated temper).

This letter refers to metal that has undergone a specific
procedure to produce a temper for a particular batch of metal in
order to comply with some specific need of the customer.
Temper Letters

4. H temper (strain-hardened tempers).

This letter designates a process of stretching or compressing in
order to impart a particular temper.

H_1 1/8 hard

H_2 1/4 hard
H_3 3/8 hard
H_4 1/2 hard
H_5 5/8 hard
H_6 3/4 hard
H_7 7/8 hard
H_8 Full hard
Temper Letters
5. T temper (thermally treated tempers)
This tempers are imparted by heating, quenching, or cooling in a controlled way.
T1 Cooled after being shaped to its final dimensions during a process involving
a lot of heat (such as extrusion), then naturally aged to a stable condition.
T2 Cooled after being shaped to its final dimensions during a process involving
a lot of heat (such as extrusion), then cold worked.
T3 Solution heat treated, cold worked and naturally aged to stable condition.
T4 Solution heat treated and naturally aged to stable condition.
T5 Cooled after being shaped to its final dimensions during a process involving
a lot of heat (such as extrusion), then artificially aged. T5 is T1 that has been
artificially aged.
T6 Solution heat treated and artificially aged to stable condition. T6 is T4 that
has been artificially aged.
Temper Letters
T7 Solution heat treated, cold worked and naturally aged past the
point of a stable condition. This process provides control of some
special characteristics.

T8 Solution heat treated, cold worked and artificially aged. T8 is T3

that has been artificially aged.

T9 Solution heat treated, artificially aged and cold worked. A stable

temper T9 is T6 that has been cold worked.

T10 Cooled after being shaped to its final dimensions during a

process involving a lot of heat (such as extrusion), then cold worked
and artificially aged. T10 is T2 that has been artificially aged.