Do you know your Aluminium's?

The International Alloy Designation System is the most widely accepted naming scheme for wrought alloys. Each alloy is given a four-digit number, where the first digit indicates the major alloying elements.

• 1000 series are essentially pure aluminium with a minimum 99% aluminium content by weight and can be work hardened.
• 2000 series are alloyed with copper, can be precipitation hardened to strengths comparable to steel. Formerly referred to as duralumin, they were once the most common aerospace alloys, but were susceptible to stress corrosion cracking and are increasingly replaced by 7000 series in new designs.
• 3000 series are alloyed with manganese, and can be work hardened.
• 4000 series are alloyed with silicon. They are also known as silumin.
• 5000 series are alloyed with magnesium.
• 6000 series are alloyed with magnesium and silicon, are easy to machine, and can be precipitation hardened, but not to the high strengths that 2000 and 7000 can reach.
• 7000 series are alloyed with zinc, and can be precipitation hardened to the highest strengths of any aluminium alloy.
• 8000 series is a category mainly used for lithium alloys.

Hope this clears up any confusion you may of had.

Andy