2000 Series Alloys Aluminum
Aluminium and its alloys are essential materials in various industries such as aerospace, marine, construction, and automobile.
The 2000(*) series is an aluminum alloy family is a set of "hard alloys" with copper as the primary alloying element. 2000 series aluminum alloys typically contain between 2 to 10% copper, with smaller additions of other elements. The copper provides substantial increases in strength and facilitates precipitation hardening but can also reduce ductility and corrosion resistance. These alloys are known for high performance and excellent strength over a broad range of temperatures but can be the most challenging to weld. They find use in many industries, including the aerospace sector. An overview of 2000 series aluminum alloys is provided below.
(*) Aluminum alloys are named in accordance with a four-digit naming system developed by the US Aluminum Association to characterize a wide range of alloys on the basis of their main alloying elements.
Common 2000 Series Alloys Aluminum
Aluminum 2011 (A92011) is known as a free-machining alloy or 'FMA'. It displays a poor corrosion resistance (requiring anodising for additional surface protection), poor weldability but has an excellent machinability and is suitable for use in the manufacture of highly complex and detailed parts.
Aluminum 2014/2014A (A24345) is a high strength aluminium, easily plated and can be hard anodised. The alloy is heat treatable, retaining its strength after heat treatment. It offers superior machinability and is used widely in the aerospace and defence sector in the manufacture of high strength components. Typically, 2014A aluminium alloy is found in T651 temper and produced in extruded bar or profile forms.
Aluminum 2017 (A92017) is a heat treatable wrought alloy with intermediate strength. It is stronger than aluminium /aluminum 2011, but harder to machine. Workability is fair with ductility and formability better that aluminum 2014. Arc and resistance weldability of this alloy are satisfactory while corrosion resistance is fair.
Aluminum 2024 (A92024), with copper as the primary alloying element (respective elemental percentages are 4.4% Cu, 1.5% Mg, and 0.6% Mn, nominally) is used in applications requiring high strength to weight ratio, as well as good fatigue resistance, weldablility and average machinability. Its density is 2.77g/cm3 (0.100 lb/in3), which is slightly higher than pure aluminum (2.7g/cm3, 0.098 lb/in3). 2024 aluminum alloy is machined very easily and has decent workability, allowing it to be both cut and extruded if need be. The addition of copper to this alloy makes 2024 one of the strongest aluminum alloys but greatly reduces its resistance to corrosion and therefore it is more prone to corrosion than most other aluminum alloys. For this reason a coating with a layer of corrosion-resistant metal (referred to as “galvanizing” or “cladding”) is often used. This coat is sometimes high purity aluminum or even another alloy, specified as CLAD or ALCLAD, and is most popular in clad sheet metal where the original alloy can be sandwiched between the cladding layers. Clad aluminum is so popular that a series of AlCLAD products have been developed and are widely used to give corrosion-weak alloys like 2024 the best of both worlds. This development makes 2024 aluminum especially useful because its strength can be implemented where the bare alloy would normally degrade.
Like some of the other aluminum alloys, 2024 comes without heat treatment (O Temper) or with heat treatment for increased strength. The heat-treatment process involves heating the alloy to a specific temperature to allow the alloying elements to mix, or “homogenize” into the base metal, and then quenching it in a solution to lock these elements in place. This step is known as “solution heat treating.” These elements are unstable, and when the piece cools, they will precipitate out of the aluminum “solution” as compounds (for example, copper atoms will precipitate out as Al2Cu). These compounds increase the overall strength of the alloy via interactions with the aluminum’s microstructure, and this process is known as “aging.” The processes of solution heat-treating and aging are important to know, because there are many types (tempers) of 2024 aluminum designated by the letter "T" and numerical digits (e.g. 2024-T4, 2024-T6, etc.). The first digit following the “T” indicates the basic heat treatment method and optional second-to-fifth digits indicate specific manufacturing qualities. For example, in the 2024-T42 temper, the “4” indicates that the alloy is strengthened with solution heat-treating and natural aging, but the “2” indicates that the buyer must heat-treat the metal themselves.
Aluminum alloy metals from different series are offered as part of our own labelled (AVIATIONEU NEW ERA) product lines in various forms (tubes/pipes, sheets/plates, bars/rods). Sourced from quality producers, they are offered in different cross-sections (for tubes or bars) such as round, hexagonal, square and others, tempers, specifications (depending on the selected product) dimensions/thicknesses, pre-cut or cut-to-order lengths to meet order quantity and application requirements. They can be supplied in pieces or tons depending on the wanted order quantity. For additional information, please refer to our Brief Guide on Aluminum Grades & Temper Designations, the individual product presentations or contact us.
