Advantages of aluminum alloys over steel

Aluminum alloy materials have become the mainstream of metal bridges due to their various advantages over steel

Bridge is a quite great invention in human history. From ancient times, The recent opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is an important page in the history of the bridge. In addition to using reinforced cement structures, modern bridges can also be built with metal materials. Among them, aluminum alloy materials have become the mainstream of metal bridges due to their various advantages over steel.

Compared with steel, aluminum alloy materials have a little density and light weight, only 34% of steel in same volume, and the strength index is basically the same as steel. At the same time, it has excellent elastic modulus and good anti-corrosion performance, and the structural maintenance cost is low, so it has been widely used in modern bridge construction. In the future, aluminum alloy bridges will have broad development prospects in China.

The reason for the advantage of aluminum alloy

1. China's current high-speed railway construction is in full swing. In addition, the terrain in the central and western regions is relatively complex, with many canyons and rivers. In the process of erecting railways, a large number of bridges need to be built. Aluminum alloy bridges will have a relatively broad potential market due to their advantages such as convenient transportation and light quality.

2. Steel is always easy to rust and poor low temperature performance. Steel rust will seriously affect the firmness of the bridge, which will not only bring greater maintenance costs, but also have serious safety hazards. Poor low temperature performance will make the steel bridge unable to be used normally under some harsh weather conditions. Aluminum alloy materials generally have strong corrosion resistance and low temperature performance, so they can be widely used in a variety of climatic conditions and are durable. Although the cost of aluminum alloy bridges is generally high, the low maintenance cost in the later stage may reduce the price gap to a certain extent.

3. Subways under construction in major cities in China have very strict requirements for pressure from the ground. Due to the high quality advantages of aluminum alloy bridges, it is foreseeable that more aluminum alloy footbridges and highway bridges will be designed and used in the future.