THE MOST COMMON WROUGHT ALUMINIUM ALLOYS

This chapter gives a brief description of the most widely used aluminium alloys. No indications on very specific alloys will be given, especially on those used for the construction of aircraft or heat exchangers in cars, for example. Specialist books [1] or technical documents from suppliers [2] should be consulted for these alloys. 

This series includes two categories of grades the refined alloys and the others such as 1050A and 1200. 

The refined alloys (1199, 1198) have a degree of purity between 99.90 and 99.999%. Depending on their purity, they are used in the manufacture of electrolytic condensers (so-called etched metal), lighting devices (bright-trim quality), and for decorative applications in the building sector and luxury packaging (cosmetics, perfumes). The metal is usually anodised. 

The 1200 alloy is between 99 and 99.5% pure, and replaces 1050A whenever its plastic formability is adequate (packaging, circles for kitchen utensils). 

The 3003 alloy is the most representative alloy in this series. Adding up to 0.20% copper provides a further increase in mechanical resistance, and adding up to 0.7% copper makes it possible to obtain a fine-grained structure. 

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