Subject: Re: What is Duralumin?

From: [email-masked] (Paul Hurst Nicholson)
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 18:36:12 GMT

On 2 Dec 1996 19:36:20 GMT, Lionel Titchener <[email-masked]>
wrote:

>An earlier posting asks what is  aircraft aluminium. My question is 
>similar, what is Dural.
>
>Is Dural a trade name, that refers to a particular grade of aluminium, 
>
>I have seen the term "Made from Dural" giving the impression that is is a 
>special grade. High Tensile grade?
>
>I have seen this term used in a magazine on mountain bikes, a lot of the 
>accesories are described as made from Dural.
>
>Thanks   Lionel
>

Duralumin is an alloy  alluminum and I think copper. Anyway it s the
alloy of aluminum used in the the manufacture of aircraft. It
definately has better strenghth properties than pure aluminum but is
slightly heavier.

---

From: "Henry P. Szostek" <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Dec 1996 17:13:41 GMT

>definately has better strenghth properties than pure aluminum but is

Duralumin,Dural,Duraluminum,Light aloy, Aloy are all terms used 
freely by advetising poeple when they want to sound technical. 
The term Dural, is primarily a european or british one used to 
describe the aloy commonly known today as 2024 the four digit 
designation series was adopted in 1954, previously it was called 
24ST . The first digit indicates the primary hardening agent in 
the aloy . In this case it is copper.  Yes it is slightly heavier 
but not enough to ammount to much .It is .100 lbs per cu in 
versus .098 lbs per cu in for pure aluminum .  Specific gravity 
is 2.77 for 2024 while pure aluminum is 2.70 .  In a list of 
specific gravity taken from  the Alcoa Aluminum Handbook the 
lightest I find is 2.64 for 5056 (principle hardening element 
magnesium) to a high of 2.82 for 2011 (copper series).  2024 is 
one of the strongest of all aluminum aloys.It is also usualy 
twice the price of lesser grades and exhibits strength comparable 
to low carbon steel.It is subject to intergranular corosion so is 
sometimes clad with pure aluminum (during the rolling process) 
and then bears the designation Alclad and yes it is used in the 
manufacture of aircraft among other things.  the only aloy 
stronger thah 2024  is 7075 (principle hardening agent zinc) 
but that is at room temperature. When used in higher heat 
aplications ( up to 300 deg.F )2024 maintains its strength while 
7075 wilts badly.  If this kind of information interests you you 
can find it in great abundance in the Metals Handbook ,published 
by the American Society for Metals. I have a few volumes  of the 
 ninth edition, I think the complete set is about a dozen books 
each the size of a thick phone book and about $100.00 per book 
When they started out they had it all in one book and if you can 
find one at a used book store it is a gold mine of information of 
this nature

Henry