The Advantages of Using Aluminum for your Electronic Enclosures

Aluminum is an extremely versatile metal with a number of advantages. It is recognized specifically for being both lightweight and flexible. And due to this extreme versatility, the process of extrusion can lend itself to even more complex designs. Pure aluminum for commercial use has a tensile strength of 90MPa.

Aluminum can be used as perfect enclosures for a wide range of electrical and electronic applications such as CATV amplifier housings and other telecom storage, ODS metering control systems, and automotive ECU boxes.

Benefits of Aluminum Enclosures Include:

• Ability to withstand high temperature
• Overall ruggedness: high impact, high tensile strength, rigid
• Resistant to rusting corrosion
• Lightweight, as compared to steel
• Blocks passage of radio waves (naturally RFI shielded) and reflects externally generated interference, such as electromagnetic wavelengths
• Built-in flame protection
• UV resistant without additives
• Easy to paint and/or coat
• Does not swell or deform and is especially advantageous at keeping away water, dust and moisture
• Scrap is infinitely recyclable and valuable which can lower energy costs and carbon emissions

Aluminum has a weight of approximately 2.71 g/cm3, or about a third of the weight of steel, making it easier and cheaper to transport than most other metals. It’s also a corrosion resistant metal due to a naturally generating protective coating. This coating can be be further improved via painting or anodising, too.

It has excellent heat dissipating properties due to high thermal conductivity. Even with 0.007 mm thickness of aluminum foil, its still impermeable. It’s ideal for transferring heat from the components of a circuit board within the enclosure to the outside, thereby reducing the interior temperature and protecting the components from damage due to excessive heat. It’s basically insensitive to temperature extremes and remains constant over a wide range from -80 C to +150 C. Aluminum has high reflectance to radiated heat too such as sunlight with over 80% light reflectivity.

Contrary to what most people think, aluminum is 100% recyclable and retains all of its original properties during the recycling process. Enclosures can be easily customized and is often easier to modify than cases of other materials. It’s non-toxic, odorless, tasteless, non-absorbing, non-sparking, non-magnetic, and non-flammable.

Ready to start your own project that includes COTS/MCOTS or custom manufactured electronic enclosures? Browse our catalog or chat with one of our engineers today!