Forging aluminum like iron?

[ouryL]

@AndrewL

Steel is fairly easy to forge because it goes from solid to liquid gradually as it heats. Steel starts to soften long before it actually goes liquid, so a blacksmith can maintain a piece of steel at a temperature where it’s soft enough to form yet still stiff enough to hold its shape.

Aluminum tends to go from hard to liquid much more quickly; the temperature range where it’s softened enough to form yet still stiff enough to hold that form is much smaller, and a smith trying to hammer hot aluminum into shape is going to have to be very careful or he’ll end up turning his workpiece into a puddle. With aluminum, if you want a complex shape, it’s usually much easier to cast it in a mold rather than try to forge it. It’s not impossible to forge aluminum, but much trickier without precise temperature control.

So, typically, aluminum is cold forged.

[Hail_Ants]

An early use of aluminum is as the pyramidon (top-most piece) on The Washington Monument. At the time, aluminum was something of a precious metal.

[Rocketeer]

@Hail Ants

An early use of aluminum is as the pyramidon (top-most piece) on The Washington Monument. At the time, aluminum was something of a precious metal.

That’s an understatement. At Napoleon’s table, ordinary guests ate off gold plates. Special guests ate off aluminum.

[Rocketeer]

@Rocketeer

That’s an understatement. At Napoleon’s table, ordinary guests ate off gold plates. Special guests ate off aluminum.

Um, thinking about that a bit more, I think that was Napoleon III.