Aluminum has other great characteristics.  Cost should be considered because if steel costs .40 cents/pounds and aluminum being one third the weight of steel, you could pay three times more per pound for aluminum and receive the same volume.  However, most aluminum is not as strong as steel.  Depending upon its alloy, it has less yield and tensile strength than carbon alloys.  However, by adding chrome and other alloys to aluminum, aluminum can approach the strength of steel.  This is very common on aircraft landing gears.

As with carbon steels, aluminum has many alloys.  Pure aluminum is very soft with a low yield strength, which has many advantages, such as deep drawing when making beverage cans, bearing material, foils, etc.  Aluminum forgings can be very strong, approaching the strength of many steels, as used in the structural parts of a vehicle.

Aluminum has other possibilities.  It can be used for electrical components, including bus bars because it has a high degree of electrical conductivity.  Certain aluminum is corrosion resistant and used in the chemical industry.  It is common in cooking utensils because it has a high conductivity of heat transfer.  A lot of food packaging is done with aluminum foil.

Aluminum can be extruded so it is used for all type of shapes, such an angle, flat bar, etc.  It is certainly used in the furniture industry because of its light weight.  Aluminum can be polished, anodized or coated, so it holds a reflective surface for a long period of time.  This is common with concentrated solar collectors.

Since aluminum carries a high price per pound, it is collected and recycled.  Most aluminum cans are re-melted and made again into aluminum strip.  The aluminum strip can be painted so you have a painted sign or light weight building material.  In Africa, there are many buildings made from painted aluminum strip that was melted from recycled aluminum beverage cans, which are ideal near a salt water coast.

Aluminum foil from a rolling mill is used to make all types of capacitors.  Aluminum foil is used in the tobacco and the food industries.  Foil is made from hot rolled strip up to .250” thick and is rolled to .008” to .0002” thick by up to 72” wide, but generally 48” to 60” wide.  Aluminum can corrode, however, but with the low cost of anodizing, corrosion can be minimized.   This type of rolling mill sometimes operates at over 3,000 FPM.

Scrap aluminum is easily melted and made into aluminum foil, strip, or plate.  All kinds of aluminum alloys are made to increase strength or to make soft for substantial cold working without heat treating.  Aluminum alloys can be soft and cladded to steel as used in connecting rods and main automobile bearings instead of using Babbitt, a lead alloy which is a pollution concern.  Many aircraft bearings are made from aluminum alloys, including high strength aluminum alloys such as aluminum bronze.  There are many paints that can used to paint aluminum any color, which is useful in light weight appliances, as well as automobiles and buildings.

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Copper can also be extruded.  A lot of air conditioning and refrigeration tubing is extruded into large diameter tubes and further reduced into small diameter tubes, ¼” or less.  Pure copper is difficult to weld because it takes the heat away from the weld quickly.  Some copper is made round, but is rolled into a flat shape.  Copper is rolled into a flat wire for electric motors and transformers.   This allows more windings on a transformer motor without increasing the diameter or size.  Copper has good corrosion characteristics under certain acids and alkalis.  One of the most important aspects of copper is that it has a high electrical conductivity.  Certain copper alloys have high fatigue characteristics.  Beryllium copper, as an example, is used to make ignition points and springs where continuous bending is necessary.

Another important characteristic of copper is that it has a very good heat transfer.  That is why it is very common in condensers and heat exchangers as used in air conditioners and refrigerators.  When copper is made into a tube, sometimes it has internal spiral grooves which doubles the surface area inside the tube and allows for better turbulence.  This improves the heat exchanger affect for air conditioning and refrigeration and reduces the cost of the product.

The number one use for copper is copper wire.  There are various copper alloys used for many other different products.  Copper aluminum alloys have a special advantage in phosphoric acid, which is a very difficult acid to contain.  As an example, copper alloys are used for making beer and sulfuric acid.  It is also used in transporting sea water.  One of the great uses for copper alloys is bearing applications.  Copper nickel alloys have advantages in high load bearing material.  Copper nickel magnesium alloys are used in radio resistors.  In rolling mill applications, much of the copper is continuous cast and reduced on a rolling mill.  Many square and rectangular bus bars are made from copper because of the high electrical conductivity used to transport high amps or continuous power throughout a building.  All of these products are rolled on a rolling mill.  This may be a tandem rolling mill where each rolling mill runs a little faster depending upon the reduction from one rolling mill to another.

Another use for copper, because of its heat transfer characteristics, is continuous casting of steel.  By water cooling the copper mold, high temperature steel can be poured through a mold on a continuous cast basis and made into a slab or ingot.  Also, copper foil is used in electronics and is sometime cladded to plastic for printed circuits.  There are many copper rolling mill applications.

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All internal combustion engine bearings are made from an aluminum tin copper alloy.  The aluminum tin copper alloy is made into a strip and cladded to steel to make bearing inserts for connecting rods and main bearings for gasoline and diesel engines.

There are many other mixtures of metal alloys, including brasses and bronzes for valves, bearings, etc.  All of these materials are sometimes rolled into a strip, sheet or rod.

Rolling alloys is very important and can provide a good or excellent grain structure.  All of the material mentioned can be cast, but a casting is porous so it is not dependable.  When reducing a cast product, sometimes heat treating the rolled product will give an excellent grain structure.  The rolling and heat treating of any metal alloy can be very important in producing a consistent, high quality product.

Highly complicated formulas for cold rolling mills have been developed by some of the greatest mathematicians and engineers.  Cauffiel has developed its own formulas and calculations by actually testing and experimenting with cold reducing.  These formulas give data such as separating force, torque, horsepower, and deflection of rolls and housings.  Also, Cauffiel has developed yield data to show what hardness yield and tensile can be expected from different types of metals, especially high strength, low alloy steel, copper alloys, and stainless alloys.

American Steel Products Company has cold rolling mills at their facility as part of their research and development to actually run a customer’s product or material.  This can determine for the customer if it is economically feasible to invest in a cold rolling mill.

Flexible cold rolling mills that are placed in line with existing processing lines will be common place in America as the world metals working industry of America becomes more quality conscious and competitive.

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There are many specific types of stainless steels.  Stainless generally has chrome and nickel and other alloys.  Stainless is not magnetic, which in some applications, such as electronics, has advantages.  The most common stainless alloys are 302, 303, 304, and 305 series.

In the last 20 years, there has been a growth in 400 series, which can also be used to prevent corrosion, but the big advantage is that it has a lower cost.  400 series is also generally easier to weld.  400 series is used for exhaust manifolds, exhaust pipes, mufflers, etc.

All types of stainless steels increase in yield strength and become harder after reducing or forming operations.

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