Aluminium, light weight and durable load-bearing structures

Aluminium applications have rapidly increased in Europe the past decade and an even quicker growth is expected in the forthcoming years. In addition to well-known building applications like windows and doors, an important part of the above growth is foreseen for load-bearing applications. This growth is based on: - Weight reduction of a structure either to increase its load-bearing capacity, or to reduce the dimensions of the supports. - A demand for higher durability of structures to reduce maintenance because of costs and/or environmental reasons. - Recycling of structural materials has become more important. Many structural concepts for aluminium are based on steel solutions, which is obviously not the best solution for an aluminium structure. In order to take advantage of the beneficial properties of aluminium it is important to think aluminium from the beginning and optimize the structure with respect to design, material selection and fabrication process.