Material Substitution
High-Strength Aluminum Sheets as an Alternative to Stainless Steel Thin Plates
For the frames of mobile devices, etc.
UACJ provides high-strength, lightweight aluminum alloy sheets for use with smartphones, notebook PCs and other mobile devices. As an alternative to stainless steel thin plates, which are often used in such devices, UACJ's sheets have equivalent strength while offering the unique advantages of aluminum, including being fully nonmagnetic.
- Advantages of Replacement with Aluminum High-strength Sheet
- Issues When Considering Replacement with Aluminum High-strength Sheet
- Contact Us
Advantages of Replacement with Aluminum High-strength Sheet
- High-strength GM55-H38 is ideal as an alternative to 0.3mmt stainless steel components.
- It has a strong track record of use with mobile phone frames and LCD components.
- Aluminum is nonmagnetic and has no effect on GPS.
Issues When Considering Replacement with Aluminum High-strength Sheet
- As the technology for bonding with ABS plastic, laser welding on aluminum is problematic compared with SUS304.
- As a result, for complex shapes requiring an increase in thickness at the boss, rib, etc., the use of aluminum is growing by means of methods such as plastic bonding and Nano Molding Technology (NMT).
Properties comparison of materials
| Material | Specific gravity | Strength (N/㎜2) |
Specific strength (strength/specific gravity) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum (1050-H24) |
2.7 | 125 | 46 |
| Aluminum (5052-H34) |
2.7 | 240 | 89 |
| Aluminum (GM55-H38) |
2.7 | 390 | 144 |
| Magnesium (AZ91 Die-cast) |
1.80 | 230 | 127 |
| Copper | 8.90 | 343 | 39 |
| Steel | 7.85 | 412 | 52 |
| Stainless steel SUS304H |
7.90 | 834 | 106 |
| Titanium | 4.5 | 392 | 87 |
| Material | Strength/weight | Formability | Appearance | Productivity | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum | ◯ | ◯ | ◎ (alumite) |
◎ | ◯ |
| Magnesium | ◎ | × | △ | × | × |
| Stainless steel | ◯ | △–◯ | △ (hairline) |
◯ | △ |
| Titanium | △ | × | △ | × | × |
UACJ's aluminum alloys for electronic products
| Material properties | Temper | Tensile strength (N/mm2) |
Yield strength (N/mm2) |
Elongation （%) |
Bend 0.5mmt |
Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM55 | H18 | 430 | 370 | 8 | 1 | Strongest in 5000 series Shallow drawing also possible with H38 Good alumite properties |
||||
| H38 | 390 | 310 | 10 | 0 | ||||||
| High-strength | H34 | 350 | 250 | 15 | 0 | |||||
 |
O | 290 | 130 | 33 | 0 | |||||
| GC150 | H38 | 390 | 310 | 10 | 1 | High-strength, suited to internal structures Strong yellow-black color when alumite Ultra-deep-drawing possible with O H32 is for lightweight drives |
||||
| H34 | 350 | 250 | 15 | 0 | ||||||
| H32 | 330 | 240 | 18 | 0 | ||||||
| O | 290 | 135 | 32 | 0 | ||||||
| GM345 (5182) |
H38 | 380 | 310 | 8 | 1 | Thin-plate, high-strength standard H36 Good alumite properties Enhancement of former GM145 bendability |
||||
| H36 | 360 | 270 | 10 | 0.5 | ||||||
| H34 | 335 | 250 | 13 | 0 | ||||||
| O | 265 | 125 | 28 | 0 | ||||||
| 6061 | T6 | 310 | 250 | 18 | 0.5 | Quenched sheet in Motorola mobiles | ||||
| GF24 552S (5052 strength) |
H36 | 275 | 235 | 8 | 1 | 552S is an alumite-optimized version of the 5052 standard Little streaking and yellowness after 552S alumite. GF24 has the same strength as 5052 without Cr 5052 component non-standard No yellowness |
||||
 |
◯ | H34 | 240 | 190 | 12 | 0.5 | ||||
| H32 | 210 | 180 | 13 | 0 | ||||||
| 0 | 190 | 90 | 25 | 0 | ||||||
| ◎ | B152S (5252) |
H34 | 210 | 190 | 10 | 0.5 | Gloss HB, strength equivalent to 5052 Good alumite and chemical polishing properties |
|||
| H32 | 210 | 180 | 12 | 0 | ||||||
| ◎ | ◎ | 257S | H24 | 145 | 115 | 12 | 1 | Gloss LF/HB, good chemical polishing properties For mirror finishing |
||
| 0 | 100 | 40 | 33 | 0 | ||||||
| Pleasing gloss appearance | 1050 | H24 | 125 | 115 | 20 | 0 | Standard housing material 0.8mmt | |||