Generally speaking, both 6005-T5 aluminum and 6005-T6 aluminum are variants of the same material. They share alloy composition and many physical properties, but develop different mechanical properties as a result of different processing.

T5: After extruding aluminum plate from the extruder, the temperature is rapidly reduced by air cooling to meet the required hardness (8 to 12 degrees Webster).

T6: After extruding aluminum plate from the extruder, then cooled by water to achieve higher hardness (over 13.5 Webster’s).

It takes a long time to cool down using air cooling, usually needs 2 to 3 days, which is called natural ageing. And the water cooling time is short, we call it artificial ageing. The main difference between T5 and T6 is in strength, the strength of T6 is higher than that of T5, and the performance in other aspects is similar. In terms of price, due to differences in the production process, aluminum plate T6 is slightly higher than T5.

All of aluminum alloy provided by Antaisolar was processed via T6 heat treatment with excellent corrosion resistance, which has higher tensile strength and proof strength compared with that in T5 heat treatment. A tiny shift usually leads to great difference. Especially for a 25-year life span  solar power plant, choosing the right solar racking is of great importance. Antaisolar adheres to T6 heat treatment for aluminum solar structures. In the long term, Antaisolar insists that time tells all and make the quality speak for himself.