3000 Series Aluminum: AA3003 and 3105

3000 series aluminum alloys are aluminum alloys with manganese as the main alloying element, which belong to the aluminum alloys that cannot be strengthened by heat treatment. It has high plasticity, good welding performance, higher strength than 1000 series aluminum alloy and similar corrosion resistance to 1xxx aluminum.

Manganese is the only main alloying element in 3xxx aluminum alloys, and its content is generally in the range of 1.0% to 1.6%. The strength of the alloy increases with the increase of manganese content. When the manganese content is higher than 1.6%, the strength of the alloy increases accordingly, but due to the formation of a large number of brittle compounds, the alloy is easy to crack when deformed.

The main grades of 3 series aluminum alloys are 3003, 3004, 3104, 3005, 3105,etc. Among them , AA3003 aluminum is the most popular one. The Mn content of 3003 aluminum sheet is about 1.0-1.5%. Compared with the 1060 aluminum plate, the specific gravity of 3003 is slightly heavier, which is 2.73.

The hardness of 3003 aluminum plate is higher than that of 1xxx pure aluminum plate and the tensile strength is about 140-160. It has good bending and punching performance under the hardness state of H24 or H14, and has good elongation and tensile properties under the hardness state of H0.

It is often used in hardware accessories with certain strength, anti-corrosion and heat preservation, electric power equipment, mechanical processing, architectural decoration, outer packaging, mechanical parts, refrigerators, air-conditioning ventilation pipes and other industries.

In recent years, 3003 aluminum coils have been widely used in the anti-corrosion and thermal insulation industries in the electric power and chemical industries. The price of 3003 aluminum coils is slightly higher than that of 1060 aluminum coils, but its strength is also higher.

3105 aluminum is another popular 3000 aluminum alloy grade, which have all tempers such as O, H12, H14, H18, and H22. 3105 aluminum plate has good anti-rust performance and good electrical conductivity. The aluminum content is 98%. With 0.3% copper, the electrical conductivity can reach 41%.

On the basis of 3003 aluminum alloy, some Cu and Mg are added to increase the mechanical properties of the finished product. 3003 aluminum sheet has higher strength than 3003 alloy aluminum plate. The 3105 aluminum plate, like the 3004 aluminum plate, has excellent arc welding performance, and can accept gas welding, contact spot welding and wire welding.

Compared with 8011 aluminum plate, 3105 aluminum alloy plate has sufficient strength to make it strong enough to withstand gas pressure, so it is widely used to make screw caps for soda liquid bottles, such as soda water and carbonated wine.