Li Li
February 21, 2025
Why Choose Aluminium Structural Products for Your Building Structure?
Aluminium is a lightweight, corrosion-resistant, and highly conductive metal with excellent malleability and recyclability, making it a versatile material for various industries. It is widely used in transportation (aircraft, cars), packaging (cans, foils), construction (windows, roofing), electrical applications (power lines, cables), and consumer goods (appliances, utensils). Its unique combination of properties, such as durability, low density, and sustainability, ensures its importance in modern technology and everyday life.
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Comparison Between Aluminium Alloy and Iron
1. Density and Weight- Aluminium Alloy: Density is about 2.7 g/cm³, making it lightweight and ideal for weight-sensitive applications like aerospace and automotive manufacturing.
- Iron: Density is about 7.87 g/cm³, making it heavier and more suitable for construction and heavy machinery.
- Aluminium Alloy: Moderate strength, but can be enhanced through alloying and heat treatment. Some high-strength aluminium alloys are comparable to steel.
- Iron: Pure iron has low strength, but carbon steel and alloy steel are much stronger, making them ideal for high-load applications.
- Aluminium Alloy: Forms a protective oxide layer, offering excellent corrosion resistance, especially in humid or corrosive environments.
- Iron: Prone to rust and requires protective measures like galvanizing or painting to improve corrosion resistance.
- Aluminium Alloy: Excellent thermal and electrical conductivity, often used in heat sinks and electrical components.
- Iron: Poorer thermal and electrical conductivity compared to aluminium.
- Aluminium Alloy: Easy to process, suitable for casting, extrusion, and machining, with lower processing costs.
- Iron: Good workability, but harder grades are more difficult to process, increasing costs.
- Aluminium Alloy: Higher material cost, but lightweight properties reduce transportation and installation expenses.
- Iron: Lower cost and abundant resources, making it suitable for large-scale applications.
- Aluminium Alloy: Widely used in aerospace, automotive, electronics, and packaging industries.
- Iron: Mainly used in construction, bridges, machinery, and heavy equipment.
- Aluminium Alloy: Can be anodized or coated for a modern, sleek appearance.
- Iron: Often used for retro or industrial-style designs.
Summary
Aluminium alloy, with its lightweight, corrosion resistance, and excellent thermal and electrical conductivity, has become an indispensable material in modern industry, particularly suited for applications requiring lightweight and corrosion-resistant properties. On the other hand, iron, with its high strength and low cost, plays a vital role in construction and heavy machinery where strength and cost-effectiveness are critical. Both materials have their unique advantages, and the choice should be based on specific needs and application scenarios. Whether you prefer the modern and lightweight appeal of aluminium alloy or the rustic and robust charm of iron, both can contribute to your construction projects, showcasing distinct styles and characteristics.
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bhbadmin
February 15, 2022
Polycarbonate in Home Design
Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic polymer is lightweight, strong and cost-efficient. It is also versatile, offering
different grades of translucence (or light transmission) as well as heat transmission.
The contemporary look of the material has made it popular in the last few years in award winning architectural projects, especially in Europe.
Here, we share some of our favourite projects which have used polycarbonate in a stylish and clever way.
1. In what would have otherwise been a narrow staircase, Muka
Arquitectura’s
use of
polycarbonate panels turns this into an area filled with soft, diffused light and completely
transforming the space. It also creates a modern, minimalistic look, with the pale blue
polycarbonate sheeting balancing the warmth of the timber stairs.
2. Designed by Garces- De Seta- Bonet Architects, polycarbonate
sheeting is
used as both wall
and a section of roof to connect a living area and a workshop to create a sun-soaked
space. The
polycarbonate sheeting also retains the light and airy feel created by the white walls
and
stairs of the hybrid indoor-outdoor area.
3. We love the concept of this Japanese inspired moveable
room
divider
which
uses natural wood
and polycarbonate sheeting to create a light and airy effect. It effectively divides
the
space
without making it look and feel smaller, and utilises the timber planks to create a
unique,
minimalistic design to create an interesting backdrop.
4. Although the other examples on this list have used
polycarbonate
sheeting
for its light
transmission properties, Bunyesc Arquitectes have used layered polycarbonate
sheeting
here to
update the façade of an old Spanish house. The excellent thermal insulation
properties
have been
prized here, used to give the exterior wall a larger thermal mass, allowing the
façade
to slowly
release collected heat during the day when the wall was under direct sunlight.
Then,
during the
colder nights, the heat would slowly release into the home, improving the energy
efficiency of
the home.
bhbadmin
February 12, 2024
Why Polycarbonate is Perfect for Your Greenhouse
Whether as a small structure in your backyard, or on an industrial scale, polycarbonate sheeting has become a popular glazing material for greenhouses. When building a greenhouse, there are two decisions which the builder will need to be make: the framing material, and the glazing material.
The two most common framing materials are wood and metal, with wood excellent for smaller greenhouses, being a cheaper and easier material to work with. Commercial greenhouses however, will be made with galvanised steel, chosen for the longer life span and minimal maintenance.
However, glazing options are constantly evolving. Whereas glass was used in the past, the high cost, fragility, and poor insulating properties meant it became a less popular material when polycarbonate sheeting became a more common building material.
Polycarbonate sheeting is very lightweight, but durable. This means that it requires less framing materials to support the structure, reducing the cost of the project this way. Polycarbonate also offers both corrugated and flat surfaces, with both options offering interesting ways which greenhouse owners can maximise light penetration into the structure. Corrugated surfaces can optimise sunlight when the sun is at low on the horizon; up to 25% more than a flat surface. Polycarbonate also has excellent thermal insulation properties, and even within our product range, different colours can offer different heat and light transmission. This versatility is incredibility important in creating specific macroclimates, but also microclimates within the greenhouse.
Great for your wallet and great for your plants, give polycarbonate sheeting a go if you’re looking to build a greenhouse!
bhbadmin
October 28, 2024
Holiday Closure Announcement
As the festive season approaches, we would like to inform you in advance of the Bighands Building Supply closure
schedule for Christmas 2024.