Aluminum Spacers
Understanding a Common Product
Aluminum and spacers are two things that most people take for granted but couldn’t live without. Aluminum is in almost everything you use every day. From the cans of soda you drink at lunch to the car you drive to work, aluminum is everywhere.
Spacers are just as ubiquitous as aluminum. A spacer is basically an object or material that is used to fill the gap between other objects. Spacers range from the rudimentary (a piece of cardboard under the leg of your kitchen table), to the elaborate (aerospace-grade aluminum spacers used by NASA). Spacers are designed to reduce wear and tear, provide a basic seal between objects, level a surface, reduce vibrations, and eliminate friction. Few, if any, complex machines operate without any spacers or shims.
Aluminum spacers are one of the most widely used types of spacer available. Due to a unique combination of benefits, it would be hard to find a more useful type of spacer. Here are five things you never knew about aluminum spacers.
Fact 1: Aluminum Can Be Easily Recycled
Recycling is a bigger part of today’s world than it ever has been. From recycling plastic water bottles to old cars, everyone has an opportunity to do their part and help the environment.
On an industrial level, aluminum is unique among most other metals and alloys in that it is both easy to recycle and produces no waste in the process. Aluminum recycling is one of the few economically viable recycling operations. While prices vary tremendously, you can save a fortune by purchasing or recycling aluminum instead of buying it new.
Fact 2: Aluminum Is Incredibly Abundant
Three primary factors contribute to the cost of any metal or material pulled from the earth:
- How much of the metal or mineral is readily available?
- How much work does it take to create a useable product from raw materials?
- How useful is the material in industrial and private settings?
Aluminum is one of the most abundant elements in the world. Next to Oxygen and Silicon, aluminum is the most abundant chemical element we have access to. Aluminum’s abundance is part of the reason almost every tool, machine, device, or product contains aluminum. Though aluminum is difficult to manufacture, the fact that it is incredibly abundant and can easily be recycled (without any degradation or loss of quality) means it is an economically viable metal to use in almost any situation.
Fact 3: Aluminum Can Easily Be Shaped
When it comes to manufacturing spacers and shims, a metal’s ability to be formed and shaped is critical. Aluminum is very ductile and able to be shaped into many different sizes, shapes, and forms. In fact, we can produce aluminum spacers as large as 6″ in diameter and as small as .04″ in diameter. If you are looking for an incredibly thin spacer, we can manufacture aluminum spacers as thin as .0005″.
Many metals and materials can easily be shaped. However, most materials become too weak to serve any real function in an industrial setting or even a daily setting when they are stretched or pulled. Aluminum, on the other hand, is an incredibly strong metal that loses very little strength even when producing spacers as thin as .0005″. This means aluminum can be used for large applications and the very smallest applications, a claim that few other metals or alloys can boast.
Fact 4: Aluminum Is Strong and Light
If you need to find a strong material to work with, your choices are nearly endless. Iron and steel are two metals that should start any list of durable materials. If you need to find a light material to work with, your choices are nearly as endless and should include all manner of plastics and foams. But if you are looking for a material that is both strong and light, few other choices can rival aluminum.
Aluminum spacers are the staples of the aerospace industry. Few other metals or alloys can match aluminum’s immense strength with relative lightness. Aluminum is just as strong as most other metals that weigh three times as much (or more).
Fact 5: Aluminum Is Impermeable and Odorless
Because aluminum is impermeable, it makes a great product for cooking and storing food. You might even have leftovers in the fridge that are covered in foil at this very moment. But aluminum’s benefits extend beyond the kitchen. Aluminum is nontoxic and impermeable and can be used in sensitive environments found in the pharmaceutical industry. Aluminum spacers, washers, shims, gaskets, and seals all provide safe, impermeable barriers in settings where leaks must be avoided at all costs.
High-Quality Aluminum Spacers
At Phoenix Specialty Manufacturing, we have been creating the highest-quality spacers for over 100 years. We use the most advanced machine equipment and inspection tools to ensure every product that leaves our facility is everything you asked for.
Phoenix Specialty has one of the fastest manufacturing cycle in the United States, allowing your washers orders to be shipped quick.