Aluminium Alloys

This chapter highlights the applications of aluminium alloys. The importance to the aerospace sector is highlighted, along with many other transport uses in automotive, rail, marine and space. The good specific properties of aluminium alloys make them well suited to these applications. Non-transport applications of aluminium alloys are also included. The second half of the chapter explains how relatively small amounts of alloying additions can produce significant increases in strength via the precipitation strengthening mechanism. This explains why knowledge of thermal history as well as composition is needed to know what the properties of an aluminium alloy will be and why heating can change the strength of aluminium alloys even if they are not melted.