Will aluminum completely replace steel?

As people pay attention to environmental pollution and fuel economy issues, the call to replace aluminum with steel is growing day by day, with the growing maturity of new energy vehicle technology, more and more brands of cars are beginning to try aluminum body design, so the future, whether aluminum can really replace steel to become the leader of the non-ferrous metals industry?

    As far as automotive applications are concerned, although well-known brands such as Audi and Mercedes-Benz are actively pursuing a strategy of “lightweighting automotive materials”, some professionals emphasize that aluminum alloys, as a lighter and often harder material, are capable of performing almost all of the functions that steel is capable of. In automotive manufacturing applications, aluminum alloys seem to have the potential to be an ideal material for replacing most automotive components, except for certain specific parts. However, when it comes to the forming process, steel shows a clear advantage both in terms of its long history of use and its technological maturity. Aluminum, by contrast, has a shorter history of acceptance and use, is not yet comparable to steel, and still faces a number of challenges and unanswered questions at the technical level.

    Secondly, in the field of industrial profiles, compared with steel, aluminum profile parts show their unique price advantage. In recent years, with the rising cost of labor and people's growing awareness of environmental protection and energy saving, efficiency and speed have shown a steady upward trend. The use of industrial aluminum to build frames not only eliminates the need for complex surface treatment, but also makes the construction process easy and fast. What's more, the recycling rate of aluminum far exceeds that of steel, reaching almost 100 percent, while the recycling rate of steel is only about 10 percent. Although the concept of “aluminum instead of steel” in the field of industrial profiles is highly respected, but to truly replace the status of steel in the metal industry, is still a long and challenging process.

www.zgmetalceiling.com
    Many technical factors and process requirements have yet to break through, the current “aluminum instead of steel” is still in its infancy, still need to be resolved and the grinding of many problems. At the current stage, we can only from the perspective of reducing the burden on the environment and promote sustainable development, think of aluminum to promote the lightweight industrial materials a better future. This will be an important measure for aluminum enterprises to achieve win-win goals of economic efficiency and energy saving and environmental protection.