We often spot aluminium checker plate in public places. Plates of various surface designs lie in front of elevator doors, outside shops and even on dangerous drainage wells mouths in the middle of roads. Sometimes the traffic administration is too busy to deal with drainage problems in time and has to place an aluminium checker plate over a well mouth in case that some pedestrians might ignore alarm notice and tread on the well by accident. As a curious person, I’ve always been wondering how aluminium checker plate is produced, so I went to the workshop and learned from the workers.

They told me that a normal piece of aluminium checker plate needs five steps to be finished. The first step is to prepare raw materials, the amount of which is obtained by calculation in accordance with a given alloy label. Take 5xxx for example, an appropriate portion of magnesium should be added except for basic aluminium, which takes up at least 90 percent of the plate. The second step falls on smelting. Following production rules, workers put ready raw materials into a forge for melting. Then slag and air inside the melting liquid are removed with special methods. The third step, as expected by many people, is casting. The aluminium liquid are poured into a deep casting well and after getting cool, become cylinder-shaped bars. Not a few people, just like me, would expect that the products of casting step are pieces of aluminium checker plate, but it is not the case. We cannot see shaped aluminium checker plate until the fourth step in which cylinder-shaped bars are heated and then extruded into plates with desired designs. In the process heat treatment is realized by forced-air hardening and manual age. Before the step of color-coating, aluminium checker plate should be oxidized first and then anodized to obtain strong anti-corrosion ability.

Although explained in a simple way, practical manufacturing procedures are much more complicated because they entail too many professional knowledge and skills. Haomei Aluminium produces aluminium checker plate of various specifications. Welcome to contact april@aluminumhm.com, leave a message or wechat/whatsapp 0086 15838029491 for more information.