Aluminum alloys
Selecting metal materials - Material families

The second-largest family in terms of tonnage (world primary aluminium production: 22 million tonnes), aluminium and its alloys have a number of assets, the two most important of which are their lightness (density 2.7) and their resistance to corrosion, due to the passivation of alumina (Al ₂O₃ ) in a very thin layer, just a few nanometres thick.

• The first allows very interesting comparisons, from the point of view of mechanical properties, with steels, when reasoning at equivalent density ρ: relative modulus of elasticity E /ρ = 26 for aluminum and steel, relative yield strength R _e /ρ = 25 to 600 for aluminum and 200 to 1,600 for steels. The modulus of elasticity of aluminum is E = approx. 70 GPa.