International registration

Terms and Definitions

The market of many aluminium products is global and involves a global communication between the stakeholders, e.g. suppliers and purchasers. They are often of different native language, but mostly use the English language for their correspondence.

The aluminium industry uses a lot of technical terms which cannot be found in dictionaries. Some of them are collected in European or North American standards. But often they are used for different concepts, which may cause misunderstandings.

Therefore the Global Advisory Group/WG 01 prepared the Global Guidance Document “Terms and Definitions” (March 2009). It tries to improve communication in the international trade and by this intends to contribute to the elimination of trade barriers. Especially, it is intended to be a source for terms and definitions to be used in standards. By using identical terms and definitions, as far as possible, in standards of different countries or continents, a better alignment of such standards is possible.

The terms in this document are grouped in different clauses dealing with products, processing, sampling and testing, product characteristics and different types of non-conformities. It has been decided to include all these terms into one document, because it is assumed that the document will mainly be used in electronic form and search systems are used in order to find the relevant terms. In addition, an alphabetical register at the end of the document gives further guidance.

Wrought aluminium and aluminium alloys

Wrought aluminium and aluminium alloys are international registered with a 4-digit code. This code and the corresponding chemical composition limits are noted down in the blue “Teal Sheets”. The Teal Sheets are available as free download from our website, see below.

The EAA is member in the International registration record for wrought aluminium and aluminium alloys.

Teal Sheets - International Alloy Designations and Chemical Composition Limits for Wrought Aluminum and Wrought Aluminum (February 2009, supersedes April 2006)

Follow up of the international aluminium alloy registration (Addendum to Teal Sheets - updated June 2014)

Hardeners, Master Alloys

Aluminium hardeners are international registered with a 4-digit code and the prefix “H”. This code and the corresponding chemical composition limits are noted down in the “Grey Sheets”.

In Europe, the chemical composition and the designation of master alloys has been included in the European Standard EN 575, of which the latest edition dates from 1995. This standard will not be maintained.

The relevant European master alloys have been included now in the International registration record. The EAA is member in the International registration record for aluminium hardeners.

Gray Sheets - International Designations and Chemical Composition Limits for Aluminium Hardeners (July 2007) (215KB)

Addendum to Gray Sheets (14 January 2011) (18KB)

Key comparing the Gray Sheet designations to the old EN 575 designations (49.6KB)

Unalloyed aluminium

The chemical composition and the designation of unalloyed aluminium are give in the so-called Gold Sheet. New alloys can been proposed for registration in the International registration record, of which the management is run by the AA. The EAA is member in the International registration record for unalloyed aluminium.

Gold Sheet - International Designations and Chemical Composition Limits for Unalloyed Aluminium.