Aluminum Suppliers

About Aluminum Suppliers and Aluminum Supply Including: 6061 Aluminum, 7075 Aluminum, Aircraft Aluminum, Aluminum, Aluminum 1100, Aluminum Bars, Aluminum Coil, Aluminum Pipe, Aluminum Plate, Aluminum Rods, Aluminum Sheet & Aluminum Tubing.

Aluminum is a very common and useful metal because of its light weight, resistance to corrosion, and its ability to become stronger under very low temperatures. Refined from bauxite via the Bayer process, it is non-toxic, non-magnetic and a good conductor of electricity. In its pure form, aluminum is very soft and pliable but aluminum alloys, when combined with such elements as copper, iron, zinc, silicon and magnesium, are very strong and durable. Even in extremely cold environments where other metals become brittle, aluminum alloys remain strong. Aluminum scrap is very recyclable and doing so saves 90% of the energy required to separate it from bauxite. Aluminum suppliers offer several different grades of aluminum alloys, each with different properties, strengths and applications. These include 6061 aluminum, the most commonly used type, 7075 aluminum, which produces aircraft aluminum, and aluminum 1100, which is the purest alloy. Aluminum suppliers produce many different aluminum shapes that are used in the construction of a wide variety of machinery, buildings, transportation vehicles and consumer products, including aluminum coils, aluminum strip, aluminum tubing, aluminum plates, aluminum bars and aluminum sheet. They also manufacture different aluminum products, such as aluminum pipes, aluminum wire and aluminum rods, all of which are components in industrial and commercial goods.

As far as aluminum supply, the element is plentiful in the earth's crust, but the metal is never found naturally in the pure state. Aluminum is commonly extracted from bauxite ore and then separated from the other elements to produce alumina, a white powder that is essentially aluminum oxide. Further processing through smelting purifies the aluminum to 99.97%. The aluminum oxide is almost always combined with other metals to form alloys with different properties and applications. The most frequently used is 6061 Aluminum, which contains magnesium and silicon. It is a general purpose metal that is wieldable, heat treatable, and may be cold worked or annealed. 6061 Aluminum is used to make truck and marine components and pipelines. 7075 Aluminum is very strong and corrosion resistant and alloyed with zinc. It has good fatigue strength but because of this, is not wieldable. This aluminum alloy is not common, and therefore costs more than others. It is mainly used in aircraft construction, bicycle construction and to manufacture sports equipment for rock climbers and lacrosse players. Aluminum 1100 is a very soft alloy, and is the most pure. It has low strength, and is therefore very wieldable and formable. It can't be hardened by heat treatment, and is used to make chemical equipment and railroad tank cars.  

Aluminum can be made into a wide variety of shapes and materials that are used in the automotive, aerospace, engineering, transportation, marine, architectural and chemical industries and are components in the production of many different commercial and industrial products. It is used in construction to build windows, roofs, doors, and siding, and provides building insulation. Aluminum is also used in packaging, making soft drink and beer cans, in foil for food storage, and in a large variety of consumer goods such as appliances, cooking utensils, pots and pans. It is often an ingredient in antacids, in the form of aluminum hydroxide. It is also used to make irrigation pipes, armor protection for military vehicles and aircraft wings. Additionally, aluminum conducts electricity almost as well as copper, and therefore can be found in overhead power lines and transport cables. In automobiles, aluminum is advantageous because it absorbs shock well and does not rust.

Many methods exist to process aluminum. Aluminum suppliers can use rolling to produce aluminum coils, plates, strips and sheets. During the rolling process, the aluminum becomes less brittle and more ductile. Rolling is also capable of creating a very thin product, about the thickness of a human hair. Roll forming can also produce hollow products like aluminum tubing and pipes by using specially shaped rollers. Stamp pressing, a process where flat aluminum sheets are shaped into parts by a die cavity and enormous amounts of pressure, is also used to form some aluminum shapes. In the extrusion method, aluminum billets are heated and pushed through a metal die under great pressure to create shapes such as bars and rods.

Further fabrication of the aluminum supply can be done upon completion, such as cutting to length, drilling and machining. Forgings are created by hammering, pounding or squeezing the aluminum into parts. Casting involves two methods, either sand casting, in which a temporary sand mold is created to make a part, or die casting, where the mold is permanent, usually cast iron or steel. This is the most widely used method of aluminum forming, and it involves pouring molten aluminum directly into the mold. Aluminum supply can also be bent, made into a powder, joined by welding or milled, depending on the desired product.

Aluminum Suppliers and Aluminum Supply Images Provided by Yarde MetalsTM, Inc.

Aluminum Suppliers and Aluminum Supply Images Provided by Trans World Alloys

Types of Aluminum

• Aluminum is a metallic element with the atomic number 13.
• Aluminum bars and aluminum rods are solid, straight uniform products of aluminum that can be extruded. These products can have cross-sections in a variety of shapes, from circular to triangular, square and more.
  
• Aluminum coil and aluminum wire are aluminum products with uniform cross-sections, available in several shapes. Products are most often supplied in coil form.
  
• Aluminum foil is formed by rolling, and is generally less than .2 mm thick. Aluminum foil is generally used in the packaging industry as well as in electrical applications.
  
• Aluminum pipe is a tube made out of aluminum.
  
• Aluminum plate consists of rolled aluminum with a thickness greater than 6 mm. Plate is used as a component in bridges and buildings.
  
• Aluminum powder is used in paints, explosives and chemical applications.
  
• Aluminum profiles are extruded products of a uniform cross-section that are most often straight in length but can also be coiled.
  
• Aluminum sheet is formed from the rolling process, with a thickness of between .2 mm and 6 mm. Aluminum sheet is used in the construction and transport industries.
  
• Aluminum strip is a long sheet of metal with a length many times its width.
  
• Aluminum tubing is a hollow aluminum product.
• Aluminum wire is wire made of aluminum.