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7204 Aluminum

7204 aluminum is a 7000-series aluminum alloy: the main alloying addition is zinc and it is formulated for primary forming into wrought products. 7204 is the Aluminum Association (AA) designation for this material. In European standards, it will be given as EN AW-7204. Additionally, the UNS number is A97204.

It received its standard designation in 2005, making it a fairly young material.

The properties of 7204 aluminum include three common variations. This page shows summary ranges across all of them. For more specific values, follow the links immediately below. The graph bars on the material properties cards further below compare 7204 aluminum to: 7000-series alloys (top), all aluminum alloys (middle), and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus

70 GPa 10 x 106 psi

Elongation at Break

11 to 13 %

Fatigue Strength

110 to 130 MPa 16 to 19 x 103 psi

Poisson's Ratio

0.33

Shear Modulus

26 GPa 3.8 x 106 psi

Shear Strength

130 to 220 MPa 19 to 33 x 103 psi

Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)

220 to 380 MPa 31 to 54 x 103 psi

Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof)

120 to 310 MPa 18 to 45 x 103 psi

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion

380 J/g

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical

210 °C 400 °F

Melting Completion (Liquidus)

640 °C 1180 °F

Melting Onset (Solidus)

520 °C 970 °F

Specific Heat Capacity

880 J/kg-K 0.21 BTU/lb-°F

Thermal Conductivity

150 W/m-K 86 BTU/h-ft-°F

Thermal Expansion

24 µm/m-K

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume

39 % IACS

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific)

120 % IACS

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price

9.5 % relative

Density

2.9 g/cm3 180 lb/ft3

Embodied Carbon

8.4 kg CO2/kg material

Embodied Energy

150 MJ/kg 66 x 103 BTU/lb

Embodied Water

1140 L/kg 140 gal/lb

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work)

25 to 40 MJ/m3

Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience)

110 to 710 kJ/m3

Stiffness to Weight: Axial

13 points

Stiffness to Weight: Bending

47 points

Strength to Weight: Axial

21 to 36 points

Strength to Weight: Bending

28 to 40 points

Thermal Diffusivity

58 mm2/s

Thermal Shock Resistance

9.4 to 16 points

Alloy Composition

Among wrought aluminum alloys, the composition of 7204 aluminum is notable for including vanadium (V) and containing a comparatively high amount of zinc (Zn). Vanadium is used to reduce grain size and increase recrystallization temperature. Zinc is used to achieve significant increases in strength, at the cost of increased susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking. Among other things, this limits weldability.

Aluminum (Al)Al 90.5 to 94.8
Zinc (Zn)Zn 4.0 to 5.0
Magnesium (Mg)Mg 1.0 to 2.0
Manganese (Mn)Mn 0.2 to 0.7
Iron (Fe)Fe 0 to 0.35
Silicon (Si)Si 0 to 0.3
Chromium (Cr)Cr 0 to 0.3
Zirconium (Zr)Zr 0 to 0.25
Titanium (Ti)Ti 0 to 0.2
Copper (Cu)Cu 0 to 0.2
Vanadium (V)V 0 to 0.1
Residualsres. 0 to 0.15

All values are % weight. Ranges represent what is permitted under applicable standards.

Followup Questions

Similar Alloys

Further Reading

Handbook of Aluminum Bonding Technology and Data, J. D. Minford, 1993

Aluminum: Properties and Physical Metallurgy, John E. Hatch (editor), 1984

ISO 6361-2: Wrought aluminium and aluminium alloys - Sheets, strips and plates - Part 2: Mechanical properties