Impermeable and Odourless
Aluminium foil, even when it is rolled to only 0.007 mm thickness, is still completely impermeable and lets neither light aroma nor taste substances out. Moreover, the metal itself is non-toxic and releases no aroma or taste substances which makes it ideal for packaging sensitive products such as food or pharmaceuticals.
Recyclability
Aluminium is 100 percent recyclable with no downgrading of its qualities. The re-melting of aluminium requires little energy: only about 5 percent of the energy required to produce the primary metal initially is needed in the recycling process.
1. Lightweight The specific gravity of Aluminium is 2.7, about one-third that of iron (7.9) and copper (8.9).
This feature is particularly important in transportation industries: for example, aircraft, automobiles; trains and ships. It contributes to energy saving in transporting, increasing loading capacity and speed. Aluminium is used as a material for high-risk
2. Excellent corrosion resistance When Aluminium is exposed to air, a thin oxidised film forms on the surface protecting the metal from corrosion. Anodising can make corrosion resistance even more effective.
This feature is utilised in construction, buildings, and household utensils.
3. Easy to work Aluminium can be easily fabricated into various forms such as foil, sheets, shapes, rods, tubes, and wires. It also displays excellent machinability and plasticity in bending, cutting, and drawing.
Aluminium is considered to be the best material for complex-sectioned hollow extrusion.
4. Non-toxic Aluminium itself is non-toxic and odourless. Its surface is smooth, easily washable, and hygienic because no germs can grow on it.
Due to these features, it is widely used in beverage cans, food packaging, cooking utensils, and in the fishery and dairy industries.
5. Strong at low temperatures Although steel becomes brittle at low temperatures, Aluminium increases in tensile strength and retains excellent quality.
Aluminium can be used in extreme environments
6. Strong The tensile strength of pure Aluminium is not high, but depending upon the alloy or temper, a strength of up to 60 kg/mm2 can be reached.
You can choose the alloy with the most suitable strength characteristics you need according to your application. Some alloys are stronger than ordinary steel or even equal to special steel in tensile strength.
7. Easy surface treatment Aluminium can be easily chemically and electrochemically surface treated or painted.
Above all, anodising treatment and dyeing can bring about excellent corrosion resistance and a wide range of colour variations. Thus Aluminium is widely used for interior and exterior products of buildings household utensils and electrical appliances.
8. Good electric conductor The electrical conductivity of Aluminium is approximately 60% that of copper. However, Aluminium weighs about one-third as much as copper of the same mass.
Aluminium is a very economical material as an electric conductor and is widely utilised in power-transmission cables, bases of electric bulbs, and in other electric fields.
9. Good heat conductor Aluminium is about three times as thermal-conductive as steel.
It is used for cooking utensils, air-conditioners, industrial heat exchangers, and automobile engine parts. It is also being used in energy saving equipment such as solar collectors.
10. Non magnetic Aluminium is not magnetic
It is used in marine magnetic-compasses, parabolic antennas, computer disks, etc.
11. High reflectivity Aluminium is highly reflective of light, heat, and electric waves. The purer the metal, the more so.
This feature is utilised for reflecting mirrors, reflectors (stoves, infrared dryers, lighting equipment), and wave guides. It is also used as an insulating material in buildings.
12. Recyclable Easy to recycle - Due to a low melting temperature, it is economically recyclable, requiring only about 1/28 the energy required for smelting. Sound-absorbing - Shock-absorbing -
It is an ideal material in this age of energy and resource saving. It can be used for ceilings. Because of low modulus of elasticity, it is used for automobile bumpers and the like.
It is decorative. It is easily formed, machined, and cast. with small amounts of copper, magnesium, silicon, manganese, and other elements have very useful properties.
Strength depends on purity. 99.996 per cent pure aluminium has a tensile strength of about 49 megapascals (MPa), rising to 700 MPa following alloying and suitable heat treatment.
Although not found free in nature, Aluminium is an abundant element in the earth's crust.
A key property is low density. Aluminium is only one-third the weight of steel.
Aluminium and most of its alloys are highly resistant to most forms of corrosion. The metal's natural coating of aluminium oxide provides a highly effective barrier to the ravages of air, temperature, moisture and chemical attack.
Aluminium is a superb conductor of electricity. This property allied with other intrinsic qualities has ensured the replacement of copper by aluminium in many situations.
Aluminium is non-magnetic and non-combustible, properties invaluable in advanced industries such as electronics or in offshore structures.
Aluminium is non-toxic and impervious, qualities that have established its use in the food and packaging industries since the earliest times.
Other valuable properties include high reflectivity, heat barrier properties and heat conduction. The metal is malleable and easily worked by the common manufacturing and shaping processes.
Physical Properties
These properties can be very significantly altered with the addition of small amounts of . Aluminium reacts with oxygen to form a microscopic (0.000000635cm) protective film of oxide, which prevents corrosion.
Aluminium in massive form is non-flammable. Finely divided particles will burn. Carbon monoxide or dioxide, aluminum oxide and water will be emitted. This is a useful property for making rocket fuel