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Glossary for Commercial Forms Aluminium

I In ng go ott
Ingot, from which all other aluminum products are made, is generally supplied in one of seven commercial forms.

Unalloyed Ingot. Unalloyed aluminum ingot is furnished in sizes ranging from smallnotched bars weighing a pound or less to large ingots weighing a ton or more. Unalloyed ingot may vary from about 98 to 99.999% Al; 99.5% Al is the most common grade. Electrical conductor (EC) ingot and rotor ingot for motors are special grades in which impurities objectionable for these applications are controlled.

Rich Alloy Ingot. Although unalloyed ingot is often used as produced, it is more often necessary to alloy it with other elements such as chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, nickel, silicon, titanium, and zinc. To accomplish this easily in production, rich alloy ingot, or "hardener", is employed; hardeners contain from less than 1% to as much as 50% of alloying elements. Casting Alloy Ingot. Large quantities of scrap are consumed in the production of
casting alloy ingot. When the impurity limitations on such alloys permit the introduction of large amounts of scrap, the resulting product is referred to as secondary casting alloy ingot. When the composition limits restrict the use of scrap, the product is designated as primary or virgin casting alloy ingot. There are many areas of overlap between primary and secondary.

Extrusion ingot. Extrusion ingot is usually furnished in cylindrical form, both solid and
hollow. It varies in outside diameter from 75 to 800 mm. This product is most often made by the direct chill (DC) casting process or by some modification thereof. It is sawed to lengths varying, conforming to the requirements of the press in which it will be extruded. With certain alloys, extrusion ingots are often soaked or preheated before shipment to the extruder. This treatment, sometimes called homogenizing, permits higher extrusion speeds, improved surface finish on the extrusions, and longer die life. When extrusions of the highest quality are required, as in strong alloy aircraft parts, extrusion billets may be scalped before shipment to remove surface liquation. Hollow ingots are used to extrude tube and other hollow shapes. These ingots are normally cast to the required dimensions in the direct chill casting machine, but manufacturing limitations often require machining of the inside diameter.

Forging Ingot. Although most small forgings are produced from rolled or extruded stock,
cast ingots are often used for large forgings. To prevent irregularities in the cast surface from affecting the quality of the forgings, these ingots are always scalped before shipment. Forging ingot is generally supplied in cylindrical form.

Hot Metal. Molten metal is sometimes transferred directly in insulated ladles from the
smelter to the customers plant, occasionally at distances up to several hundred miles.

C Ca as sttiin ng gs s
In order of commercial importance, the three major forms of aluminum castings are: die, permanent mold, and sand.
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Die casting. Die-casting is inherently suited to large-quantity production of both

ornamental and structural aluminum parts. If the quantity permits investment in a die, if wall thickness can be reduced as much as the casting process permits, and if objectionable undercuts are not present in the design, aluminum castings can usually be produced by this process at a lower cost than by any other method.

Permanent Mold Castings. In the permanent mold process, cast iron molds and
cores are generally used; less frequently, steel and inlays of other metals are employed. Molten aluminum is poured into the mold cavity under a normal gravity head. In special cases, a small amount of pressure is applied to the mold through the application of vacuum, by pumping the molten metal, or by centrifugal force. In the semi permanent mold process, cores of dry sand or other expendable material are employed, overcoming many of the design limitations imposed by metal cores. Permanent mold castings are metallurgically superior to die or sand castings, having greater soundness, pressure tightness, higher strength, greater speed of production, and thinner walls.

Sand Castings. The sand casting process is the most versatile method of producing a
cast aluminum shape and is characterized by universal adaptability. It is employed to produce small quantities of identical castings, parts requiring intricate coring, and very large castings. Modern high-speed molding equipment and methods produce sand castings relatively cheaply.

Other Cast Forms. Direct chill castings -- both solid and hollow, having round,
rectangular or odd-shaped sections -- are used because of their outstanding mechanical properties after heat treatment and their sound structure. Mechanical properties approach those of wrought products except that the elongation is lower. Cast tool and jig plate and large sizes of cast bus bar are commonly made by this process. When thin walls and close dimensional tolerances are required, and if the quantity does not warrant die-casting, shell mold casting, plaster mold casting, or investment casting are often employed. The last two processes are also used where difficult undercuts and intricate coring are required. The centrifugal casting process is used for the production of large aluminum alloy tubes and rings.

F Fo or rg giin ng gs sa an nd dP Pr re es ss siin ng gs s
Aluminum alloy forgings and pressings are produced commercially in conventional hammer equipment, on hydraulic and mechanical presses, in ring rollers, and on upsetters. They may be classified as die forgings, hand forgings, and rolled rings.

Die Forgings. Depending upon the amount of machining necessary to obtain a finished
part, aluminum die forgings and pressings are categorized as (a) blocker, requiring the most machining; (b) conventional, providing a good balance between die cost and machining cost; or (c) precision forgings and pressings. Precision forgings are of advantage where it is desirable to obtain thin web sections and thin, accurate ribs with a minimum of machining. Draft angles are controlled to less than 10 if desired; corner fillets can be held to a minimum.

Hand forgings are produced by working aluminum stock between flat dies or other
simple tools that shape the piece roughly to the required contour. Prototypes are frequently

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made as hand forgings to reduce delivery time. Slabs as large as 7 in. thick by 120 in. wide and 450 in. long, weighing over 35,000 lb, are available in the form of hand forgings.

Rolled Ring Forgings. Precision ring rolling equipment is available to produce rolled
rings in a wide range of diameters up to 150 in., in any wall thickness and alloy. Larger rings can be fabricated by forging over a mandrel.

S Sh he ee ett a an nd dP Plla atte e

Aluminum that is 0.250 in (6.35 mm) or thicker is classified as plate; sheet is 0.006 to 0.249 in. thick. Sheet is supplied either flat rolled or in coils. Sheet and plate are also available in circular and odd-shaped blanks that are sheared, blanked, sawed, or routed to size or specified configuration. Aluminum alloy sheet and plate are available in very large sizes. These large sizes are not furnished in all alloys, tempers, and finishes and cannot be procured from all suppliers. Generally, however, sheet and plate sizes obtainable in aluminum alloy exceed those available in other nonferrous metals and approximate those produced in steel. Tolerances are about the same as those in other metals. Protective Coatings. Interleaving paper is often used in shipping sheet and plate products. Standard interleaving is an anti-tarnish, non-corrosive kraft paper. Oiling is employed as an alternate method to protect sheet and plate. Gummed protective tape is sometimes applied to flat sheet and plate as surface protection during transit and subsequent handling. A transparent vinyl strippable coating, applied during mill fabrication, affords a practical finish protection for a number of sheet products in transit and during plant handling and fabricating operations.

Specialty Products
Many special grades of sheet and plate are supplied to meet the requirements of specific applications.

Foil
Commercial aluminum foil ranges in thickness from 0.00017 to 0.0059 in. and in width from 0.250 to 61 in. It is produced with two sides bright or one side bright and one satin finished. The latter, common for thickness less than 0.001 in., is produced by pack rolling: Two sheets of foil are passed through the rolling mill at the same time. The faces in contact with the rolls have a bright, specular finish, while the mating faces have a satin finish. Foil more than 0.001 in. thick is normally rolled in single sheets and is available with two sides bright.

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P Pr ro offiille es s Profile, section, shape: Wrought product, usually extruded, of uniform cross-section
along its whole length and with a cross-section other than rod/bar, wire, tube, sheet or strip. They are usually supplied in straight lengths but sometimes in coiled form. Depending on the form of the cross-section, it can be called solid profile or hollow profile.

Extruded profile: Profile brought to final dimensions by extrusion.

Solid profile, solid section, solid shape: Profile in which the cross-section does not include any enclosed void.

Hollow profile, hollow section, hollow shape: Profile in which the crosssection includes either one enclosed void, provided that the cross-section is other than a tube, or more than one enclosed void.

Precision profile: Profile, which fulfils special requirements concerning tolerances on

form and dimensions.

R Ro od ds s//b ba ar rs s Rod/bar: Solid wrought product of uniform cross-section along its whole length, supplied
in straight lengths. Cross-sections are in the shape of circles, oval, squares, rectangles, equilateral triangles or regular polygons. Products with a square, rectangular, triangular or polygonal cross-section can have corners rounded along their whole length.

Extruded rod / bar: Rod or bar brought to final dimensions by extrusion. Cold-drawn rod / bar: Rod or bar brought to final dimensions by cold drawing. Brazing rod: Rod made of a low melting temperature alloy for use as filler metal in
brazing.

Filler rod, welding rod: Rod for use as filler metal in joining by welding. Square rod/bar: Rod or bar of a square cross- section. Rectangular rod/bar: Rod or bar of a rectangular cross-section. The thickness of these rods exceeds one-tenth of the width. The term "rectangular rod/bar" includes "flattened circles" and "modified rectangles" of which two opposite sides are convex arcs, the other two sides being straight, of equal length and parallel. Hexagonal rod/bar: rod or bar having the cross-section of a regular hexagon.

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W Wiir re e
Wire: Wrought product of uniform cross-section along its whole length, supplied in coiled form. Cross-sections are in the shape of circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, equilateral triangles or regular polygons. Products with a square, rectangular, triangular, or polygonal crosssection can have corners rounded along their whole length. The thickness of rectangular wires exceeds one-tenth of the width. Wire in the upper thickness range is often called "coiled rod". The term "rectangular wire" includes "flattened circles" and "modified rectangles", of which two opposite sides are convex arcs, the other two sides being straight, of equal length and parallel.

Drawing stock: Semi-finished solid wrought product of uniform cross-section along its whole length supplied in coils of a quality suitable to drawing into wire. Cross-sections are approximately round, triangular or regular polygonal with dimensions usually exceeding 7 mm. Conductor wire: Wire possessing the requisite electrical and mechanical properties for use as an electrical conductor. Filler wire, welding wire: Wire for use as filler metal in joining by welding. Flattened wire: Wire produced by flattening round wire between rolls or by drawing
through a die with flat opening.

Brazing wire: Wire of a low melting temperature alloy for use as filler metal in brazing. T Tu ub be es s Tube: Hollow wrought product of uniform cross-section with only one enclosed void along
its whole length, and with a uniform wall thickness, supplied in straight lengths or in coiled form. Cross-sections are in the shape of circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, equilateral triangles or regular polygons and can have corners rounded along their whole length, provided the inner and outer cross-sections are concentric and have the same form and orientation. Tubes can also be formed by piercing and by forming and joining sheet or strip.

Extruded tube: Tube brought to final dimensions by extrusions. Drawn tube: Tube brought to final dimensions by cold drawing. Porthole/bridge tube: Tube produced by extrusion of a solid billet through a porthole
or bridge die. This tube is characterized by one or more seams formed by longitudinal bonding of two or more edges under pressure.

Seamless tube: Tube in which longitudinal bonding of edges is made by pressure,

fusion or mechanical interlocking.

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Welded tube: Tube formed from plate, sheet or strip with the abutting edges
automatically welded.

Seam welded tube: Welded tube fabricated using filler wire. H.F. seam welded tube: Welded tube fabricated from strip by use of H.F. current
without filler wire.

Tube stock: Semi-finished tube suitable for the production of drawn tube.

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