Aluminum tubing can be used to make railing. Because aluminum railing is so lightweight, it expands greatly the number of locations where a walkway can be created. Aluminum railing can be used in a walkway at a very high elevation. The aluminum tubing can be transported without great difficulty to such a location.
Aluminum tubing provides a tool for hot water conveyance. Water that does not exceed 180 degrees F. can be carried from one location to the next in tubes that have a polyethylene exterior. Such multi-layer pressure tubing can have a layer of aluminum tubing sandwiched between two polyethylene layers.
Of course, as in a sandwich, it is important to retain the aluminum "filling" between the two layers of thin plastic. The aluminum is thus bonded to the polyethylene by a melt adhesive. That insures the tubing's ability to carry very hot water.
Anodized aluminum tubing is used in wheelchairs. The lightweight nature of the aluminum guarantees "easy-pushing" for anyone who must transport someone in a wheel chair. Because aluminum resists corrosion, the wheel chair holds up for a long time.
Science fiction writer Sigmund Brouwer focused on the lightweight nature of aluminum tubing in his story "Danger on the Red Planet." In that story the hero relies on a wheel chair to get from place to place. When he encounters difficulty with moving that wheelchair, he gets a clue as to the cause for the problem in his extra-terrestrial home.
World leaders have developed a surprising interest in aluminum tubing. Aluminum tubing is used in gas centrifuges, the type needed during the performance of uranium enrichment. Multiple centrifuges must be linked together to create a "cascade." Reliance on an aluminum tube facilitates completion of such a link.
Now whenever a country puts in an order for aluminum tubing, a number of people become suspicious. Some world leaders soon suggest that the country which placed the order plans to enrich uranium. Other world leaders then remind the accusers that aluminum tubes can also be used to make anti-tank rockets.
Manufacturers of aircraft parts have made extensive use of aluminum tubing. In fact, aluminum tubing was the key component in the Gossamer Condor. The pilot and designer of the Gossamer Condor achieved an historic first-the first successful flight of a human powered airplane.
Paul M. McCready designed the Gossamer Condor. Before sitting down at the design table, he observed hawks and falcons in flight. McCready decided that by lengthening the wings on a glider, without increasing the weight of the vehicle, he could create a human-powered airplane. He then used aluminum tubing in his extra-long wings.
Aluminum tubing has been used for the construction of antennae. Tubing makers have produced aluminum tubes of varying sizes. Smaller tubes can telescope into larger tubes. That feature underlines the tube's usefulness in an antenna.
Aluminum tubes have been used to make aluminum elbows. Such elbows can then be used to connect steel tubes. The linked steel tubes play a key role in the operation of a pneumatic conveying system.
Author: Patrick T. Tremblay
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