Today we are going to take a nice deep dive into what an alloy is and the effects that different alloys can have on building products.
What is an alloy?
First and foremost, we need to understand what an alloy is. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary an alloy is “a substance composed of two or more metals or of a metal and a nonmetal intimately united usually by being fused together and dissolving in each other when molten.” Let’s simplify the definition a bit. An alloy is two or metals combined together to create one uniform material. In general, most metals will not be utilized in a pure form as they will be unstable (or even impossible). As such, different alloys with different makeups are utilized. In the majority of cases an alloy is mainly composed of one metal, i.e., aluminum alloys are primarily aluminum.
Does it matter?
So, most metal stuff is actually more than one metal. So, everyone’s been lying about what things are made of. What’s the big deal?
In reality, it is standard practice to refer to a metal item as the main metal used in the alloy, mainly for sake of comprehension and understanding. The big deal is that different alloys provide different benefits depending on the item and situation in question. The alloy utilized also has a large effect on a couple of key aspects of the product.
Strength
In many applications, an alloy is created to enhance or strengthen qualities of the original material. Most metals are either unstable or weak in a pure form. From a building products perspective, utilizing the correct alloys helps a product provide the proper strength and code requirements for said product.
Of course, not all alloys are the same. By changing the mixture of metals added, new and different alloys are created, each with a unique set of properties compared to the next. Two aluminum alloys, 6063-T5 and 6005A-T5 are a good example of this. Both alloys are made up mostly of aluminum but because of slight tweaks in the overall formula, the 6005A-T5 aluminum alloy is stronger than its 6063-T5 counterpart. Meanwhile the 6063 alloy makes up for its lesser strength by being more malleable.
Alloys allow for strength to be added to railing systems
Price
Depending on the exact mix of metals being used in an alloy, the price of an alloy can become more or less expensive. An easy-to-understand example can be found with gold, where an ounce of 14-karat gold is more expensive than an ounce of 10-karat gold, due to the 14-karat gold containing more valuable material. It is important to try and strike the right balance between cost effective alloys and quality alloys. Oftentimes the cheapest option is not the best option as an abundance of lower quality alloys are likely at use.
Different alloys can change the price of products
What does that mean for Superior Aluminum?
Sometimes, when selecting a product, it’s easy to just let price be the deciding factor. However, when discussing railings, columns, and fence, it’s important to know what type of alloy is being used and its capabilities. While two products can have similar looks, their strength and overall performance can be dramatically different based on the alloys being used.
Superior Aluminum has been doing this for over 60 years and has found that 6063-T5&6 or 6005A-T5 aluminum alloys provide a premium product without soaring costs to an astronomical level. Therefore, these are the alloys used in all Superior Aluminum Products.
Interested in learning more about alloys or seeing these alloys put to good use in a railing project? Please contact us or get a railing quote and we will be happy to help you!
