Aluminum Manufacturers & Suppliers

6061-T6 is the general-purpose alloy: yield strength around 40 ksi, excellent corrosion resistance, good weldability, and outstanding machinability. It's the right call for enclosures, brackets, jigs, and structural weldments. 7075-T73 pushes yield strength to roughly 68 ksi — approaching many steels — through a zinc-magnesium-copper chemistry, at the cost of weldability and somewhat higher susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking. The -T73 temper trades a bit of peak strength for better SCC resistance versus -T6. Use 7075 where weight is critical and stress concentrations are tightly controlled, like aircraft wing ribs or high-load fixtures.

In production CNC milling and turning, aluminum routinely holds ±0.001" (±0.025 mm) on critical dimensions without heroics. With properly tuned toolpaths, sharp carbide inserts, and adequate flood coolant, ±0.0005" is achievable on bore diameters and shaft fits. Thin-wall features below 0.060" wall thickness require careful fixturing and reduced depth-of-cut to control chatter and thermal growth. Anodizing adds 0.0001"–0.0004" per surface, so pre-anodize bores should be cut oversize by half that amount on the radius to hit final tolerance after finishing.

5052-H32 is the sheet-metal specialist of the aluminum family. Its magnesium-only alloy chemistry gives it the best corrosion resistance of common wrought alloys — critical for marine, chemical, and food-processing enclosures — and a work-hardening response that 6061 can't match for tight-radius bends. Minimum bend radius for 5052-H32 is roughly 0.5T for 90-degree bends versus 1T or more for 6061-T6, which cracks on aggressive bends because the T6 temper leaves it with low ductility. For laser-cut and brake-formed sheet components, 5052 is almost always the better choice over 6061.