​​Proposal to Improve the Value of Aluminum Aluminum is an excellent metal that is light, strong, recyclable, and accommodates to various shapes. Used widely across industrial products, and daily necessities, Aluminum is the 2nd most produced metal in the world after iron. On the other hand, Aluminum is softer and more prone to damage than iron,and corrodes under certain environments. Surface treatment compensates for these drawbacks. Properties such as hardening can be added to improve corrosion resistance and provide better aesthetics. This we believe, adds significant value to Aluminum. Silvec has been studying/researching Aluminum surface treatment for many years in Japan. With a good understanding of the nature of Aluminum, we are able to make appropriate surface treatments, thus, improving the value of Aluminum.

─ Aluminum Charactristics ─

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Aluminum weighs 2.7, which is about 1/3 lighter than iron (7.8) / copper (8.9). This contributes to saving energy- significantly improving cars, airplanes, trains, etc., making it an environmentally friendly metal.

The hardness of each aluminum alloy is soft at “A105: HV19”, “A5052-H32: HV60”, “A6063-T6: HV73”.

The tensile strength of pure aluminum (A1000 series) is not powerful, but can be easily strengthened through the rolling process. Among alloys, there are aluminum with strength comparable to steel, such as duralumin (A2000 series) and super duralumin (A7000 series).

Aluminum can be easily processed by rolling, bending, drawing and cutting, thus used widely for die and lost wax casting. Even a thin product can be manufactured by heating and extruding the die at a high pressure, similar to the extrusion process.

The thermal conductivity of metals are good in the order of ‘silver> copper> gold> aluminum.’ The thermal conductivity of Aluminium is three times that of iron. In addition, the metal specific gravity is about 1/3 that of silver and copper, so it is used as a heat dissipation component for various products (heat sinks, etc.).

The electrical conductivity of aluminum is good in the order of “silver> copper> gold> aluminum”. Although conductivity is lower than that of copper, the specific gravity of Aluminium is 1/3 lighter, making it possible to conduct twice as much electricity in comparison to copper wire in the same amount. Aluminum can also be used for electric wires, electrodes, and bus bars.

Aluminum is suitable for structural materials in low-temperature environments because it is strong at low temperatures and maintains its strength even at extremely low temperatures of -200 ° C. Copper is not suitable for structural materials because it becomes brittle at temperatures below -62 ° C.

For aluminum, the energy required to regenerate from a dissolved state is 1/28 of the energy required to produce new aluminum bullion. Aluminum has a high scrap value.

Aluminum is a non-toxic metal used in cooking utensils and beverage cans.

Aluminum is a non-magnetic metal that does not stick to magnets. Given its weight, they are suitable for electromagnetic shielding plates that protect against external magnetic field lines, and noise radio waves.

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Aluminum naturally combines with oxygen in the air to form a thin oxide film. Although the metal already has excellent corrosion resistance due to its oxide film, surface treatment can help boost corrosion resistance. The type of surface treatment recommended varies depending on the application and required quality, but corrosion resistance can be improved with any treatment including anodizing, chemical conversion and plating.

Aluminum has sufficient strength enough to be used in structures, but it is also a soft metal. Heat treatments can harden the metal, but surface treatment is required to make it harder. Our standard anodize can increase hardness to HV200, hard anodize can increase to HV400 or higher, and with nickel chrome plating to HV800 or higher.

Aluminum has a beautiful appearance as it is. However, the look can be further improved by anodizing or plating. Depending on the appearance of various metal colors with a mirror finish or matte texture, and the type of aluminum alloy, Aluminum can be turned into a variety of colors with a beautiful metal texture by anodizing and dyeing. It also maintains and ensures corrosion resistance and strength.

Aluminum ranks fourth in electrical conductivity among all metals. However, if Aluminum material is left as it is, the metal forms high contact electrical resistance due to the naturally formed oxide film. Thus, plating a metal film with low contact electrical resistance, make aluminum products light and more conductive. (Ex. Aluminum electrode, bus bar, etc.)

While it is ideal to make components that utilize Aluminum’s lightness and ease of processing, when positioning products by soldering, it is impossible to do so on Aluminum surfaces. In such cases, aluminum components can be soldered by changing the plating suitable for soldering aluminum. We offer nickel plating, which has long been used for soldering purposes for its high solder wettability and tin plating.

Aluminum has the ability to shield electromagnetic waves. However, there is a copper plating process to further enhance this shielding performance. As a result, it has been evaluated and adopted as having enhanced electromagnetic wave shielding properties in a wide frequency band.

Aluminum is ranked 4th among metals with good thermal conductivity, and is often used as a heat sink material because of its light weight. It is

not the case where heat conduction performance increases when anodized. In fact, the alumite film is inferior in heat traditional performance compared to pure aluminum material. The reason why the alumite film is adopted for the heat sink is because the alumite film increases the emissivity and enhances the heat dissipation effect.

Whether the emissivity be increased or to simply use a thermal conductive material depends on the environment to be used. There are also performance changes depending on the thickness of the alumite film and on the aluminum material. If you want to use the performance of aluminum materials as is, we recommend a chemical conversion treatment of aluminum.

Aluminum die-casting heat sinks that can make complex shapes require surface treatment such as alumite or chemical conversion treatment. Even if increased emissivity is not necessary, the performance often deteriorates due to corrosion. In any case, we believe that surface treatment is crucial for high performance heat sinks.

・We offer to take part from the time of product planning to better propose specifications and shapes that do not cause defects prior to the launch. We then make proposals that satisfy required functions while reducing costs, and in some cases, introducing materials that best fit the customers’ needs.

・We are able to propose specifications that can reduce costs, based on the current specifications and required quality. The proposal from the standpoint of knowing the relationship between the characteristics of aluminum and the surface treatment contributes to the improvement of the value of aluminum.

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