Anodized 6061 aluminum vs. Cold rolled steel strength

[broncofire75]

Hey guys need to know which is stronger in overall strength.

Looking at making a few things at work but not sure which would be the best as far as strength and cost.

Anyone got a link to a chart that breaks it down in numbers?

[Flatline's Up!]

not trying to be a typical pirate hardass, but there are literally hundreds if not thousands or tens of thousands of sites that have this info to as exact as you want it.

google: strength of materials

then you can figure out what type of "strength" you are talking about and then you can compare them

[broncofire75]

Looking at the brittle hardness and if the two are comparable.

[broncofire75]

Yeah I know but I couldn't find anything on anodized aluminum and cold rolled in the same chart.

I wasn't sure what they were wanting to know as far as strength when I orignally posted basically I was told they need to know the brittle strength(surface) and the overall difference in shear strength between the two.

Thanks guys

[Azzy2000]

6061-0 , 6061-T4 , 6061-T6 ? There is quite a big difference between these.

Anodizing isnt going to affect the strength much.. The anodized layer is harder, but is usually less than .001" thick.

What type of cold rolled steel?

[broncofire75]

6061 t4

1018

sorry didn't think about that either lol.

It's for a tufting machine and the pieces are going to be pushed and pull at a high rate of speed and if the surface strength is not high then it will start to dig in and ultimately F it lol

so which is harder on the surface and would hold up longer in yalls opinion?

[broncofire75]

The Brinell hardness is prolly what I need to know by looking at our metals book(which doesn't show much lol)

[300sniper]

i have no idea what a tufting machine is but from what you are describing, aluminum doesn't sound like the appropriate material.

if all you are concerned about is hardness, 6061-t6 has around a 95 brinell hardness and 1018 has around a 160 brinell hardness. hard anodizing will increase the surface hardness greatly but like mentioned earlier, it is only around .001" thick. the aluminum is soft under it so it will still gouge.

aluminum is not a good choice of material for a wear part. 1018 most likely isn't the best choice either.

[roverjohn]

If surface hardness and wear resistance are important to you neither of those two materials would be used in all likelihood. Are you really planning on building your own tufting machine AND asking us what materials to use?
Look at AR400

300Sniper, Tufting machines are used to make carpet.

[fj40guy]

Sounds more like you should be looking at a steel alloy for that application. AR360?

On aluminum, anodizing is a nice protection from the elements. Basically you want something to look pretty, but strength is not a factor. You're putting a nice coating that tends to fatigue and propogate cracks, not exactly recommended for stessed applictions.

My 'general' rule of thumb with mild steel (1018) vs. aluminum (6061).
Size the aluminum 50% larger, end result is approx. 1/2 the weight of the steel item. So if 1/4" steel plate was needed, 3/8" aluminum should work with half the weight of the steel item.

[broncofire75]

Thanks guys.

It's just some parts for a tufting machine.

And we just needed to know which of those two have a higher surface strength and Brinell rating.

Those two are the options we chose or materials to keep the cost down and be the best for the application.

[Ty2003K]

Im still a little confused about the surface strength your talking about but for what your looking for it sounds again like you need a hard surface suitable for a wear application. Again the 1018 hands down between those two materials. have it case hardened to suit your hardness needs.

[SirMrManGuy]

www.matweb.com is a decent start for basic materials data.

Between the two materials 1018 is better for wear applications, but there are much better things that don't have a significantly higher cost (I'm curious as to why 1018 and 6061 were selected as your only options).

Before I'd recommend a material, I'd like to know a bit more about the application and conditions its under (pressures, materials it is in contact with, lubricants etc). There are many things that affect materials degradation in contact applications.

[JeffHPK5]

There are several hard anodized hybrid coatings that do quite well with abrasion resistance.... as long as the impact is low.


We use a Teflon impregnated hard anodize at work that's flat-out tough.... very similar to the aluminium treatment used on winch fairleads.

[dopeassjackson]

MSC or mcmaster carr has the charts you need.

[phillyzj]

http://trailer-bodybuilders.com/mag/trucks_primer_picking_best/