6. Aluminium and its alloys

Aluminum-based sheet metal is used in a wide range of industrial sectors, but mainly in the transport sector, where its penetration is all the greater as the weight reduction permitted can be achieved at a higher price. This is why they have completely conquered aeronautics (where some more expensive but higher-performance composites are in danger of supplanting them), but are finding it more difficult to penetrate the automotive and rail sectors.

Aluminum, and all aluminum alloys, have in common the disadvantage of seizing quite easily, a high sensitivity to scratching and a lack of necking elongation (due to their negative or zero sensitivity to strain rate), which make them more difficult to shape than mild steels. However, all types of forming are possible, provided the appropriate procedures are followed. We will examine the main families listed in standard...