What type of aluminum is the kind used in cases? I need it to be really thick..with the brushed aluminum look...like 2mm... __________________________________________________ Alloy 1100 Aluminum: Commercially pure, this alloy has more thermal and electrical conductivity than other aluminum alloys. It is not heat-treatable, it offers excellent corrosion resistance and workability, and it's easy to weld and braze. It's ideal for chemical equipment, heat exchanger fins, and sheet metal work. Yield strength is 17 ksi. Hardness is 32 Brinell. Melting range is 1190° to 1215° F. Alloy 2024 Aluminum: One of the “aircraft alloys,” this heat-treatable alloy has high strength with fair formability and workability, so it works well for spot welding. Use for aircraft parts, fasteners and fittings, wheels, and scientific instruments. Yield strength is 47 ksi. Hardness is 120 Brinell. Melting range is 935° to 1180° F. Alloy 3003 Aluminum: This alloy may be strengthened only by cold working. It is not heat treatable. Similar to Alloy 1100, but with slightly higher strength, this alloy has good weldability and workability and offers excellent corrosion resistance. Use in chemical and food-processing equipment, tanks, heat exchangers, and sheet metal work. Yield strength is 21 ksi. Hardness is 40 Brinell. Melting range is 1190° to 1210° F. Alloy 5005 Aluminum: This aluminum alloy has mechanical properties similar to 3003, but is stronger. Brighter finish than alloy 5052. Readily welded and has good corrosion resistence. Alloy 5052 Aluminum: Stronger than Alloy 3003, this alloy offers excellent corrosion resistance (especially in marine environments) as well as good weldability and workability. It is not heat treatable. Ideal for tanks and drums, marine and vehicle bodies, and fan blades. Yield strength is 28 ksi. Hardness is 60 Brinell. Melting range is 1125° to 1200° F. Alloy 6061 Aluminum: Extremely versatile, this heat-treatable alloy combines good weldability and formability, high corrosion resistance, and medium strength. Use it for chemical equipment, vehicle parts, scaffolding, and pipe fittings. Sheets also available with Hard Anodized or Chrome coating. Yield strength is 40 ksi. Hardness is 95 Brinell. Melting range is 1080° to 1205° F. Alloy 7075 Aluminum: One of the hardest aluminum alloys, this exceptionally strong, heat-treatable alloy has good machinability and fair corrosion resistance. An “aircraft alloy,” it is ideal for aviation parts, keys, gears, and other high-stress parts. Yield strength is 73 ksi. Hardness is 150 Brinell. Melting range is 890° to 1175° F.
I think you are getting a little over-technical here. Do you need to know because this info is provided by a supplier you are considering purchasing from? If so, my experience is that you should contact them and tell them what you are planning to do and they will recommend the best material (most likely the cheapest). I recently found a great source for 2mm aluminum. There is a sign shop supply place near my work that sells it with white baked epoxy and anodized. They refer to it as 080 (about 2mm thick)... the thinner stuff is 060 and 040. You may want to try a place like that or a DIY store.
AMD, do you not have accompanying phrase diagrams to go along with all that data? LOL Lian Li's are the most pronouced brushed effect aluminum cases that I've seen.
I can tell you now as a materials science student that you are being over technical. You only need this information for highly specific applications where exposure to particular chemicals or high loads/ fatigue cycles are significant. The fact that you want 2mm sheet alone means that just about anything would be strong enough. If you really must know, 7000 and 2000 series alloys are aviation grade and carry the respective price tag. In particular 2000 series is most commonly used in billet form for machining into solid components. So not 7000 or 2000. Also, you willl NOT be heat treating, as I doubt you have any of the required knowledge to do this, and it wouldn't give any real benefit for this application. 1100, as it says is pure aluminium and is rarely used as a structural alloy. Of those listed, the 5000 or 6000 series alloys would be bes suited for case building. Other than that, just get what fits into you're budget and comes in the sizes you want. Hope this helps 8-Ball
If you plan on anodizing any of it, you ought to ask your metal finisher which alloy he prefers to work on. They seem to have some strong opinions.
