Whether a project calls for aluminum foil or aluminum sheet, the aluminum coil is behind the manufacturing process. An aluminum coil is formed by taking one continuous strip of aluminum and coiling it into a roll.

Advantages of aluminum

Some of the advantages of the aluminum coil are that it is lightweight, heavy-duty, and able to resist corrosion. By a process called anodizing, whereby the aluminum surface is coated with a protective oxide, that corrosion resistance can be improved even further.

Aluminum vs Copper and Steel

Why do manufacturers opt for aluminum coiling over another durable material like steel or copper? At about 33% of the density and weight of steel, aluminum renders parts that are much lighter. Therefore, it is reducing handling costs and shipping fees. Overall, the aluminum cost is about 50% less than copper.

In fact, according to the Air Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration News, aluminum versus copper has become “The Great Condensing Coil Debate.” In that article published by the industrial news source, while controversy stirs about one versus the other, one thing is clear. Condensing coils made from aluminum have made air conditioning more affordable. “Aluminum brought the cost of an a/c system down, making it more palatable to consumers and builders.”

Aluminum In Transportation and Construction

The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning sector isn’t the only industry in which aluminum coil is used. The transportation industry, in fact, is the largest user of aluminum in the United States, with close to 30% of all that is produced in the nation. Indeed, the average car driven in this country contains over 275 pounds of aluminum. Besides, some luxury car makers use aluminum sheeting to make the entire bodies of their vehicles. Perhaps that’s why aluminum has become the most abundantly produced non-iron metal.

Aluminum in construction

In the construction industry, the aluminum coil is also being used more and more frequently as trim to cover base materials on homes. Because the aluminum can be anodized with decorative oxide and comes in a wide variety of colors, it provides a pleasing finishing feature. Best of all, it is easy to install, making it a nice home project for the do-it-yourselfer. The most typical way in which aluminum coil is put to use in homes is as a trim finish for windows, soffit boarding, siding, and roof edging.

Aluminum to Environment

Beyond these industrial advantages, aluminum is extremely kind to the environment thanks to its ability to be recycled. That ecological friendliness is further enhanced by aluminum’s ability to be recycled an infinite number of times. In the transportation industry alone, that adds up to substantial benefits to the earth. In concrete terms, the average car is made up for about 7% aluminum, yet aluminum amounts to around 40% of the total material scrap value of the average vehicle at the end of its useful life.