| Author |
Message |
Michael Bonwill (65.1.133.226)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 3:47 pm: | |
Does any one know the difference between 3003, 5052 & 6061 aluminum in the terms of sturture? Does anyone know what GMC used on the 4106? I raised the roof on my 4106 getting ready to re-skin any suggestions on what type and thickness to use? Thank you Mike B. |
Dale MC8 (69.19.170.237)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 6:56 pm: | |
Mike, This month's BCM has an article about Aluminum by Dale Whipple. Mostly it concerns 6061 and 2024. When I was in the Aerospace field, we used mostly 2024 and 7075. I was just an assembly grunt, so don't know what their properties are. When I manufactured kites, we used 6061 because of its corrosion resistance and its ability to be flexed and straightened without breaking like 2024, a much brittler material. I know, more that you wanted to know without saying what you wanted to know.
Dale MC8 |
Claimjumper (208.186.109.25)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 7:02 pm: | |
Mike, you will want to use 2024-T3 to be able to work with it and still get good dent resistance.>>>Dan |
Sean Welsh (Sean) (64.81.73.194)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 14, 2004 - 2:07 am: | |
Mike,
The first digit in the four-digit number indicates the primary alloying element -- 2 is copper, 6 is magnesium, and 7 is zinc. I'm not sure what 3 and 5 are. The other three digits are just a number indicating which specific alloy it is, there is no quantitative meaning to the numbers. The letter and number designations that follow the four digts indicate temper, which is another crtical piece of information. "H" is strain-hardened, "O" is annealed, "T" is heat-treated.
You should be able to find the specific properties of each alloy quite easily by searching on the web. I'm sure Alcoa would also be happy to send you this information, or you can look it up in a metallurgical handbook or the CRC handbook. Or, here's a good link: http://www.efunda.com/materials/alloys/aluminum/aluminum.cfm
That level of detail may not be particularly useful, though -- there are hundreds of aluminum alloys. Best to get specific recommendations about what to use for your application -- many here can provided those better than I.
-Sean |
Phil (204.89.170.126)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 14, 2004 - 7:59 am: | |
2024 alloy is usually "clad" with a thin coating of pure aluminum for corrosion resistance as the base metal is very corrosion prone. This means that at every hole or edge there may be a corrosion problem if exposed to things like road salt. 6061 is much more corrosion resistant but has somewhat less strength (about 30%). Most small airplanes use 2024 but many of the new homebuilts use 6061 as is is a little more workable and a whole lot less expensive. |
Adame (129.82.229.195)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 14, 2004 - 7:21 pm: | |
The cheapest good choice is 6061 T6. It isn't as stiff as the 7K or 2K series but stiff enough and much cheaper than either of these other "air craft alloys". The 5K series is good to weld, the 3K series is easy to bend. Neither of these is as stiff as the 6061 T6 stuff.
Bob |