With the properties of high density, ductility, corrosion resistance, recyclability, cost saving and environmental friendly, aluminum is the best green building construction materials in the world. In the meantime, replacing wood with aluminum can greatly reduce deforestation to protect the green earth.
More than one hundred years ago, the Royal Society made an aluminum cup which was more valuable than gold and presented it to Russian chemist Mendeleev, in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of chemistry. It was not until 1886 that American scientists invented the smelting technology of electrolytic aluminum. After this method was put into production, the output of metal aluminum increased rapidly, and the price fell sharply. Since then, it has entered the daily lives of ordinary people.
Today, aluminum material has been widely used in the following industries such as construction and real estate, electronic power products, and transportation. Putting into operation of aviation aluminum materials maximizes the excellent performance of aluminum materials. Aluminum has become a leader in materials and is highly praised by people from all walks of life.
In the existing construction industry, aluminum was first used as building decoration materials, such as door and window frames, glass wall frames, and outsourcing aluminum panels. Until the early 1930s, aluminum alloy began to be used in the load-bearing structure of buildings. Widely promoted and applied in the fields such as, bridges, storage, space structures mean that aluminum is feasible as the main building material. The fact is that aluminum alloy has good ductility and high density, and it is suitable for various extreme environmental stress structures. The world’s first aluminum alloy building “Golden Dome” was successfully completed in Britain in 1951. The reticulated shell has a diameter of 111 meters and a height of 27 meters.
So, why do people prefer aluminum structures? Many answers say that because its appearance is more textured and more beautiful than that of steel structure buildings. This is just one of the reasons. In fact, aluminum has incomparable advantages over steel.
1. High density
The density of aluminum alloy is only 1/3 of steel, and its strength and stiffness are higher than that of steel. It is an ideal lightweight material. When applying in the buildings of high-rise and large-span and thin-shell structures, the weight of aluminum spatial structure is much lighter than that of steel structure. Therefore, the basic investment of the aluminum structure is much less.
2. Ductility
Aviation aluminum is ductile. Different from the traditional rolling of steel structures, aluminum can be made into precision structural parts of various shapes and specifications. Compared with steel, aluminum alloy has good plasticity and formability, and it can be processed into various specifications and shapes in large quantities precision hollow and solid constant cross-section, variable cross-section profiles, pipes, bars, plates, forgings, die forgings and punching and bending parts, by various pressure processing methods (extrusion, rolling, forging, stamping, etc.) under cold and hot conditions. It can make the cross-sectional form of the component more reasonable. It can meet the requirements of any building structure without requiring precision machining, which cannot be achieved by steel process of hot rolling, cold rolling, extrusion or welding.
3. Corrosion resistance
Compared with steel structure, one of the main advantages of aluminum alloy structure is corrosion resistance and durability. Aluminum require less if any maintenance and anti-corrosion work. And it will not affect normal during the maintenance and anti-corrosion process. Green buildings with aluminum alloy structure are widely used in environments with high humidity, acid rain, harsh climate change, or coastal areas.
4. Recyclability
The recycling cost of aluminum alloy materials is very low, and the energy consumption is only 5% of that of electrolytic aluminum. The recycling rate can reach more than 90% (more than 5 times the recycling rate of steel). It is a typical green and environmentally friendly material.
5. Cost saving and environmental friendly
In the case of the same span, greatly reducing (about 1/8 of the steel structure) of the structural section can save land and energy by increase the usable area of the building by about 6% and reduce the waste of space by about 10%. And the construction cost is greatly saved at the same time.
