Pure aluminum melts at about 1,220°F. Most steel doesn't melt until it's well past 2,500°F. That gap explains a lot of the frustration people run into the first time they move from cutting or welding steel to working with aluminum.
A few takeaways from the Metal Supermarkets blog worth knowing: aluminum doesn't glow or change color before it melts, so it can slump without warning if you're used to reading steel's color. It pulls heat away from the weld zone fast, so it often needs more amperage up front even though it melts at a lower temperature. And the oxide layer on the surface melts at a far higher temperature than the metal underneath, which is why cleaning the joint with a dedicated stainless brush right before welding makes such a difference. Alloying elements also shift the melting range compared to pure aluminum.
Our Marietta location stocks aluminum in sheet, plate, bar, tube, angle, and channel, cut to size with no minimum order. The full article is linked in the comments.
What caught you off guard the first time you welded or cut aluminum?
#Aluminum #Welding
Authentic close-up of aluminum plate or bar on the Marietta racks, or aluminum being TIG welded in a customer shop. Real photos strongly preferred over stock. No Google Drive image folder is set up for this client yet, so request a real photo from the Marietta location.
Canva text suggestion: "Aluminum Melts Near 1,220°F, Steel Doesn't" or "No Color Warning Before Aluminum Melts"