ALUMINIUM

Aluminium is a very versatile metal which is rarely found in it's pure form ,originally derived from the processing of bauxite. In it's pure form aluminium is very soft and malable it has very few uses aside from conductors and reflective coatings on mirrors and replacing chrome plating on automobile components. Aluminium is more often found to compose of a variety of other compounds such as copper , molybdenum ,manganese , hydrogen ,chlorine, iron, tin, magnesium, zinc, zirconium and silicon. All of these give the different grades of aluminium it's special properties . Aluminium is graded through the series system 1000 series through 8000 series. I'm not going to get into the specifics of the alloys different compositions as they are relatively redundant , but as a basic guideline any aluminium 4000 series and above has good machining and finishing qualities. Low grade aluminium generally is dull grey, softer, and can easily be identified by marking it with a scribe or nail, it is easily gouged and when filed or sanded tends to ball up and clog your abrasive . High grade aluminium is much harder to mark and generally has faint crimson and blue bands running paralell to one another easily identified by angling them towards a light source.

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