Post #398,732
1/30/15 9:31:16 AM
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Audi used to make the A8 from aluminum
I have one in the garage right now. The car is 500 pounds lighter but significantly more expensive for bodywork.
Aluminum has no memory for shape, unlike steel, and it gets weaker the more you work it. There's special training required, aluminum dust is explosive, the tools are more expensive and that cost must be recouped, and aluminum is harder to heat without melting because it doesn't turn red like steel.
That said, aluminum repair will probably get cheaper as more and more cars use the metal and the repair shops can spread the cost. Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #398,739
1/30/15 11:27:40 AM
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Also, you can't apply solder or lead to Aluminum.
You get cracks, you have a real problem.
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Post #398,759
1/30/15 8:42:29 PM
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But, there is aluminum brazing.
Not an easy process. Back in the 70's, I had that done on a travel trailer aluminum water tank. Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #398,760
1/31/15 6:32:06 AM
1/31/15 6:32:45 AM
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MIG (MGAW) welding works well on aluminum.
Not difficult but you need the gear, including the gas tank. Pretty easy and very strong. "Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable."
~ AMBROSE BIERCE
(1842-1914)
Edited by hnick
Jan. 31, 2015, 06:32:45 AM EST
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Post #398,797
2/2/15 3:05:17 AM
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I learned to do that in metalwork at school
You need a really light touch, otherwise your work piece turns into Holesville, population: you.
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Post #399,033
2/10/15 9:35:56 AM
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HMS Sheffield
The Argentines managed to sink the Sheffield with one Exocet, not because of the payload of the missile, but because the aluminum superstructure of the ship ignited. As the crew fought the fire with water, the aluminum oxidized, releasing hydrogen in hot and confined spaces. The hydrogen exploded, more aluminum ignited, etc. They finally extinguished the fire by cleverly submerging the vessel.
American Spruance class destroyers of similar construction were quietly retrofitted with steel superstructures or retired.
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Post #399,039
2/10/15 6:07:18 PM
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Nice theory, not true.
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Post #399,041
2/10/15 7:51:07 PM
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But that is how it was reported at the time
The letter below made it to the NY Times Editor, but I can't recall that information ever coming back into the news cycle in Continental Europe. Things just kept going forward as the conflict developed. http://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/03/opinion/l-aluminum-s-not-to-blame-for-warship-loss-251244.html It's unfortunate, but understandable, that the fast-paced action of war often leads to erroneous reports of what is actually happening. The continuing circulation of misinformation concerning the sinking of H.M.S. Sheffield and H.M.S. Coventry in the Falkland Islands conflict is an example.
A number of media continue to report that H.M.S. Sheffield had an aluminum superstructure. This is alleged to have led to the sinking of the ship after it was struck by an Argentine Exocet missile.
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Post #399,063
2/11/15 3:48:31 PM
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And no one likes to spoil a good story.
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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