Cold Drawn Aluminum Tube for Aircraft and Industrial Pipe, Bent and Welded to Order

What this aluminum tube is

This cold drawn aluminum tube is an extruded aluminium pipe drawn down to a controlled wall and supplied in round, oval, square or irregular section. Grade can be chosen from the 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000, 6000 or 7000 series with a minimum aluminium content of 96%. Drawing, rather than extrusion alone, keeps the wall concentric along the length, which matters when the part has to slide, take a thread or carry a bending load.

Where this aluminum tube is used

Buyers order this aluminum tube for aircraft pipework, bicycle frames, tent poles, medical and agricultural equipment and general industrial frames. It is supplied to the drawing: cut to length, punched, decoiled, bent or welded before dispatch, and fitted with the ends the assembly needs. Outdoor and marine work suits the anodized and powder coated finishes, while frames that will be painted often take a mill finish aluminum tube.

How this aluminum tube is made and finished

Billet is extruded and then cold drawn to the wall the job needs, with a tolerance of plus or minus ten percent held on the drawn section. Temper ranges from T3 to T8 and hardness is rated hard, so the same aluminum tube can be soft enough to bend or stiff enough to stay straight. Surfaces are mill finished, anodized or powder coated, and colours run from natural and silver through bronze, champagne and golden to black, or matched to a sample.

How to choose this aluminum tube

Start with the section and the alloy, because grade decides strength and corrosion behaviour: 1000 and 3000 series bend easily, 5000 series suits marine air, 6000 series takes anodizing well and 7000 series gives the highest strength for aircraft parts. Then fix the wall and the outside diameter together, because a thin wall in a large diameter can crush where a small one would not. Finally choose the finish and the length, and say how the aluminum tube will be formed, because an aluminum tube bent on a tight radius needs a different temper from one that is only cut and punched.

What to confirm before you order this aluminum tube

Confirm the alloy and temper, the section, the outside diameter and wall, the tolerance, the length and the finish. Confirm as well whether the ends need threads, holes, slots or a welded fitting, because those operations change the price and the lead time as much as the tube itself does. Samples are available so the fit and the finish of the aluminum tube can be checked before a production run starts, and production is quoted at 22 to 30 days after the drawing is agreed.