What are Costs of Aluminium Alloy – Price - Definition

Aluminium alloys cost four to fives times much as carbon steel in material costs. Carbon steel is about $500/ton, while aluminium alloy costs about $2500/ton.

High purity aluminium is a soft material with the ultimate strength of approximately 10 MPa, which limits its usability in industrial applications. Aluminium of commercial purity (99-99.6%) becomes harder and stronger due to the presence of impurities, especially of Si and Fe. But when alloyed, aluminium alloys are heat treatable, which significantly changes theri mechanical properties.

Aluminium alloys are based on aluminium, in which the main alloying elements are Cu, Mn, Si, Mg, Mg+Si, Zn. Aluminium alloy compositions are registered with The Aluminum Association. The aluminium alloys are divided into 9 families (Al1xxx to Al9xxx). The different families of alloys and the major alloying elements are:

1xxx: no alloying elements
2xxx: Copper
3xxx: Manganese
4xxx: Silicon
5xxx: Magnesium
6xxx: Magnesium and silicon
7xxx: Zinc, magnesium, and copper
8xxx: other elements which are not covered by other series

There are also two principal classifications, namely casting alloys and wrought alloys, both of which are further subdivided into the categories heat-treatable and non-heat-treatable. Aluminium alloys containing alloying elements with limited solid solubility at room temperature and with a strong temperature dependence of solid solubility (for example Cu) can be strengthened by a suitable thermal treatment (precipitation hardening). The strength of heat treated commercial Al alloys exceeds 550 MPa.

Costs of Aluminium Alloys – Price

It is difficult to know the exact cost of the different materials because it strongly depends on many variables such as:

the type of product you would like to buy
the amount of the product
the exact type of material

Raw materials prices change daily. They are primarily driven by supply, demand and energy prices. Raw aluminium costs usually (2020) between 1.5 – 2 USD/kg.

However, as a rule of thumb, aluminium alloys cost four to fives times much as carbon steel in material costs. Carbon steel is about $500/ton, while aluminium alloy costs about $2500/ton. The more alloying elements the steel contains and the more complex heat-treatment procedure the more expensive it is.

References:

Materials Science:

U.S. Department of Energy, Material Science. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1 and 2. January 1993.
U.S. Department of Energy, Material Science. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 2 and 2. January 1993.
William D. Callister, David G. Rethwisch. Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction 9th Edition, Wiley; 9 edition (December 4, 2013), ISBN-13: 978-1118324578.
Eberhart, Mark (2003). Why Things Break: Understanding the World by the Way It Comes Apart. Harmony. ISBN 978-1-4000-4760-4.
Gaskell, David R. (1995). Introduction to the thermodynamics of Materials (4th ed.). Taylor and Francis Publishing. ISBN 978-1-56032-992-3.
González-Viñas, W. & Mancini, H.L. (2004). An Introduction to Materials Science. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-07097-1.
Ashby, Michael; Hugh Shercliff; David Cebon (2007). Materials: engineering, science, processing and design (1st ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-8391-3.
J. R. Lamarsh, A. J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN: 0-201-82498-1.

See above:
Aluminium Alloys

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