Introduction:
Aluminum Circles are widely used as stretching materials for lighting, kitchenware, electronics, electrical appliances, military and mechanical parts. Kitchenware items such as non-stick cookware, pressure cooker. The aluminum round disc is one of the most used aluminum alloy sheets and strips deep processing products. Aluminum alloy circle HS code is 7060.9100. the pure aluminum circle HS code is 7060.9200.
The range of metals used to make cookware is very narrow. Because cookware needs good thermal conductivity and chemical stability, otherwise the taste of the food will be changed. Many metals conduct heat well enough but are too chemically unstable to be used for food processing.
Aluminum is a metal with excellent thermal conductivity. It does not rust and is resistant to many forms of corrosion, so aluminum discs are a common metal used for cooking utensils!
Aluminum is commonly found in drawn, die-cast, or anodized forms. Drawn aluminum product is formed by rotary stamping. Due to the soft nature of this metal, it is commonly manufactured into aluminum alloys with magnesium, copper, or bronze for added strength. Drawn aluminum is widely used in baking sheets, juice sheets, cake and muffin baking pans, soup pans, steam pans, pasta pans, and even frying pans made of drawn aluminum.
The die-cast ones tend to be thicker than the drawn ones, making them more suitable for soup pans, Dutch pans, and heavy baking pans. Because die-cast aluminum produces microscopically visible pores during the die-casting process, it is less thermally conductive than drawn pans. An anodized aluminum circle naturally has a layer of aluminum oxide formed by electron processing, which is hard and does not react easily with other substances. This process is often used to make aluminum juice pans, aluminum chowder pans, aluminum baking pans, and aluminum Dutch ovens.
Currently, aluminum cookware is widely used in the Middle East and Africa, as well as in some American countries. Aluminum circles have different names, such as aluminum disc, aluminum discs, aluminum discs blank, aluminum circle blanks, aluminum disk, aluminum disk blanks, aluminum wafer, aluminum round disc, round aluminum plate.
1. Manufacturing Process
The production process of kitchenware can be generally divided into two types: the Spinning Production Process and the Deep Drawing Production Process ( also named stamping production process). Here we will explain how we process aluminum circles into beautiful kitchenware:
A：Spinning Technology:
Metal spinning, the asymmetrical rotational forming process for sheet metal. It is often used in furniture, lighting, tableware, aerospace, and other industries. The spinning production process generally requires cold-rolled discs ( also named CC aluminum discs). Commonly used grades are: 1050, 1060, 1100, 3003, 5052, 8011. spinning can be divided into manual spinning and CNC spinning.
Manual Spinning: manual spinning forming process is an old forming method, with a short production cycle, high technical requirements, can be used on ordinary machine tools with a simple mold to manufacture complex-shaped parts, and can be suitable for steel, aluminum, copper, and other different metal materials, saving raw materials and tooling costs, shortening the processing time. The workers always use wood or metal to finish the spinning.
CNC spinning (Automatic spinning): CNC spinning forming is the use of CNC turning centers to achieve the various motion trajectories required for spinning, and the use of its trajectory changes to optimize the quality of the parts, while rolling against the die can also be processed directly on the CNC machine tool. Especially suitable for frequently updated products or mass production of the spin forming process to select the best process parameters and trajectory.
Aluminum circles applications: baking dishes, coffee pots, steamers, pans, sieve pots, bowls, wine containers, teapots, vases, frying pans.
B: Deep Drawing Technology:
Deep drawing is also named Hydroforming Press or press process. Many customers prefer to buy deep drawing quality aluminum circles (also named DDQ quality aluminum circles). This means they will produce the aluminum cookware with a hydroforming machine. The stamping process is a metal processing method, which is based on the plastic deformation of metals. It uses dies and stamping equipment to apply pressure to the aluminum sheet material to produce plastic deformation or separation. So as to obtain parts with certain shapes, sizes, and properties (stamped parts). The production process of stamping generally requires hot-rolled aluminum discs or DC material aluminum discs. The commonly used grades are 1050, 1060, 1100, 3003.
Stamped parts, sometimes also known as “plate metal”. It is a term derived from the English plate metal, which is generally a thin metal plate by hand or die-stamping to produce plastic deformation, forming the desired shape and size, and can be further formed by welding or a small amount of mechanical processing of more complex parts, such as aluminum chimneys, aluminum tin stove, and aluminum car shells are commonly used in the home plate metal parts.
DC quality Aluminum circles applications: Deep drawing cookware, press kitchen utensils, pizza pan, pressure cooker, bakeware, road sign, Building Material, Insulation, traffic sign, etc. aluminum Non-stick cookware, for cookware bottom、for non-stick cookware、for non-stick pan、for non-stick pan、for kitchenware, etc.
2. How to cut an aluminum circle in an aluminum sheet?
Circular cutting machine (Shearing machine). It is very simple production equipment, which uses two disc-shaped scissors to cut, according to the different positions of the two scissors axes and the different angles with the sheet material. In the production, we need to cut the aluminum sheet into small pieces square first. Then use the round shear to draw the aluminum plate into a circle slowly. The production speed of the shearing round machine is relatively slow and the edge is easy to have a burr. So it is not suitable for mass production. Aluminum rounds with a diameter of more than 800mm are generally produced with a shear round machine.
Dies pressing machines (Punching round machine). Aluminum round disc uncoiling and dropping production line is a fully automatic integrated production equipment for aluminum round sheet. It is able to punch and drop the round sheet directly on the raw material of aluminum coil, saving the processes of shearing and slitting. This greatly improves the production efficiency of the company as well as the application rate of the material and shortens the delivery cycle. The amount of scrap is fundamentally reduced, resulting in a raw material utilization rate of more than 80%. Available diameter from 100mm to 1200mm.
3. Which alloy numbers of aluminum circles should I choose for my kitchenware?
There are different classifications of aluminum rounds blanks.
Aluminum discs are mainly 1 series aluminum disc, 3 series aluminum disc, 5 series aluminum disc, 6 series aluminum disc, and 8 series aluminum disc. The most wildly used aluminum grades are: 1050, 1060, 1100, 1200, 3003, 5052, 6061,8011. The aluminum states (temper) are O, H12, H14, H16, H18, etc. Pure aluminum circle 1050 are made of fresh aluminum ingot and the purity is over 99.5%, so it is also named 99.5 pure aluminum circles. For example, hot-rolled aluminum discs are suitable for the production of kitchenware in the deep-drawing process, with a deep-drawing rate of ≥1.8; 1050 aluminum discs are suitable for the production of hydraulic or deep-drawing lamps and lanterns; cold-rolled aluminum discs are suitable for the production of kitchenware in the late spinning process.
Aluminum disks used in the production of kitchenware have very high requirements for surface and performance. It requires the surface of the disc to be bright and flat to ensure no obvious scratches, oil stains, oxidation, black spots, etc. When the thickness of the disc is >1.0mm, the finished product is guaranteed to be neat and burr-free at the edges.
As a professional aluminum round sheet manufacturer, they will have good control on the grain size and elongation of the master roll of the aluminum coil to ensure the excellent deep punching and spinning performance of the aluminum round sheet, and effectively avoid bad phenomena such as orange peel pattern, ruffled edge and high ear-making rate that may occur in the later processing. The alloy, state, and performance of the aluminum coil are strictly controlled and tested to ensure the accuracy and diversity of the supplied aluminum disks.
Common quality problems: orange peel problems; Break problem, Surface oxidation, four ears. Surface quality mill finishes no oil stain, no scratches, rolling marks, or orange peel problem.
4. Which state should I choose for the aluminum rounds for kitchenware?
Chinese aluminum round discs are widely exported to different countries, such as Ghana, Algeria, Togo, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, and other countries in Africa; UAE, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries in the Middle East. Different customers buy aluminum round discs for producing different kitchenware products, so they need different thicknesses and diameters. In addition, the production of different kitchenware also requires different states. Temper means hardness. For example, a pot lid needs to be in H12 or H14 condition; an aluminum kettle or aluminum teapot needs to be in soft state O condition or soft aluminum discs. Before determining what state is needed, let’s understand what the different states mean.
Aluminum Circle 1050-O: is fully annealed, the softest temper, Temper O is fully annealed aluminum circles, the softest temper, Temper O usually to make bodies or deep drawing quality.
Aluminum Circle 1050 H12/H22: means work-hardened to 1/4 condition. H12/H22 is 1/4 hard,
Aluminum Circle 1050 H14: simple work-hardened condition. H14/H24 is half hard,
Aluminum Circle 1050 H18: h18 is the hard condition after direct rolling without annealing, H18 is full hard.
FYR, some customers use O to make lids with very thick aluminum circles, as they worry that if use thin one, strength will be not enough, so every time, I suggest them to use H14, or other harder temper than O. And then you can use thinner thickness than before. This will save a lot of cost for them.
5. Summary:
Aluminum Circles are very common in our life, such as can sealing, non-stick bottom, traffic signs, lampshades, etc. Besides, aluminum rounds are also used in machinery manufacturing, automotive, and other industrial fields. The cast-rolled material aluminum circle is mainly used in the mold category, and the hot rolled aluminum circle material has a higher elongation rate and is suitable for the products that are to be stamping and stretching.
Secondly, whether the product specifications meet their own procurement standards, usually the thickness range of aluminum discs in the 0.3-6.0mm, diameter range in the 10-1800mm. Different enterprises have different equipment and technology, the specifications that can be manufactured are not the same. Finally, the aluminum disc delivery time and the minimum order amount also should be cleared before the purchase.
