The density of pure aluminum is small, about 1/3 of iron, and the melting point is low. Aluminum has a face-centered cubic structure, so it has high plasticity and is easy to process. It can be made into various profiles and plates and has good corrosion resistance; but pure aluminum has a low density. Aluminum's strength is very low, so it is not suitable as a structural material. Through long-term production practice and scientific experiments, people gradually strengthened aluminum by adding alloying elements and applying heat treatment, thus obtaining a series of aluminum alloys.
The alloy formed by adding certain elements can maintain the advantages of pure aluminum such as lightness and high strength. This makes its "specific strength" better than that of many alloy steels, making it an ideal structural material. It is widely used in machinery manufacturing, transportation machinery, power machinery and the aviation industry. Aircraft fuselages, skins, compressors, etc. are often made of aluminum. Made of alloy to reduce weight. By using aluminum alloy instead of steel plate material for welding, the structural weight can be reduced by more than 50%.
With the rapid development of science, technology and industrial economy in recent years, the demand for aluminum alloy structural parts is increasing day by day, which has led to in-depth research on the processability of aluminum alloys. The wide application of aluminum alloys has promoted the development of aluminum alloy processing technology. At the same time, the development of processing technology has expanded the application fields of aluminum alloys. Therefore, the processing technology of aluminum alloys is becoming one of the hot spots of research.