ABSTRACT
Aluminium’s unique properties have set the metal apart as a special building material exhibiting outstanding properties: strength, lightness, durability and versatility. There are many other properties of aluminium that make it particularly suitable for specific applications outside building - its electrical properties make the metal ideal for busbar and overhead cables; its heat conductivity makes it ideal for car radiators and hollow-ware; its malleability and compatibility with foodstuffs provide many uses in packaging, and its surface treatment characteristics make aluminium the major material for lithographic printing plates. But in the construction industry it is the combination of strength and light weight, the high natural resistance to atmospheric attack, and the ease with which the metal can be formed that have led to such a wide range of vastly different uses for aluminium in building.
