Spartal produces a wide range of quality controlled tube. Most commonly used alloys are descibed below:
- 1xxx Commercially pure Aluminium
- 3xxx Aluminium - Manganese alloy
- 5xxx Aluminium - Magnesium alloy
- 6xxx Aluminium - Magnesium-Silicon alloy
The corrosion resistance of the 1xxx series is excellent and this leads to many applications in the packaging industry, electrical conductors, reflectors and chemical plant facilitites. It is also widely used in the heating and ventilation industry.
3xxx series alloys have an increased strength over 1xxx series and also have good formability and drawing characteristics which produces a tube that is suitable for the consumer industry, garden products and tube bending applications. This is allied to a bright drawn tube that accepts an anodising coating and provides a protective and decorative finish.
5xxx series alloys have a medium strength and are especially resistant to sea water corrosion and this means it can be used in marine applications where total immersion is required. The good corrosion resistance, formability and weldability make it extremely suitable for the automotive industry, vehicle piping and the production of ferrule stock sizes.
6xxx series alloys are the most common amongst aluminium alloys and are widely used in transport, engineering and architecture. The good corrosion resistance allied to the medium strength obtained by solution treatment make the 6xxx series alloy a favourite with wide ranging applications from curtain rails, machine parts, furniture and pipework. The ability to provide an attractive finish in a range of colours after anodising make it extremely applicable to display and photographic stands.
All the tubes produced are to BS 1471:1972 or the BS EN 754-2:1997 Part 2 Cold Drawn Mechanical Properties; BS EN 754-7:1998 Part 7 Seamless tube tolerances on dimension and form; BS EN 754-8:1998 Part 8 Porthole tubes tolerance on dimension and form and BS EN 573-3:2003 Part 3 Chemical composition of aluminium and aluminium alloys.
Where specific properties or dimensions are required by a customer our technical and quality departments are available to define and produce suitable standards within exiting BS specifications.