All about aluminium! How hygienic is it? How easy is it to clean? Is it low maintenance? What is it used for?

Aluminium is at the heart of what we do at Felton. It is the principal material for our commercial outdoor furniture. How much is known about aluminium and its properties ? This article explores how hygienic it is, how easy it is to clean, whether it produces the best low maintenance outdoor furniture and what else is aluminium used for.

Aluminium is silvery-white, and the most widespread metal on earth, constituting more than 8% of the Earth’s mass. It’s extremely popular because it is light, durable, and functional however it only was discovered as a metal around 200 years ago and effective extraction from its ore was only achieved in 1886. Now aluminium can be found in abundance in our houses, cars, parks, schools, computers and more.

Is Aluminium hygienic?

A material can be described as hygienic if it is impermeable with a non-porous surface, hardwearing and robust, and importantly easy to clean. Aluminium has all of these properties which ensures it qualifies as a hygienic material. It is sterile and does not harbour bacteria growth, which make it very well-suited to industries that need unparalleled hygiene including food packaging.

Is Aluminium low maintenance?

Due to its non-corrosive nature, its finish, strength, and durability, aluminium needs very little assistance to keep in good condition and maintain its original quality. This makes it a very low maintenance material.

In addition to aluminium’s natural low maintenance properties, all Felton Industries seating has a marine grade clear anodised coating making it highly resistant to wear and tear or vandalism. Anodising is an aluminium oxide process which is the second hardest substance known to man, only a diamond surpasses anodising in hardness. Anodising can increase the hardness of the untreated aluminium surface by more than 3 times. Even strong physical actions like bashing, kicking or scratching will not impact the seating due to the anodised finish.

How long will anodising last?

Anodising properly specified and maintained will virtually last indefinitely. A normal service life in excess of fifty years can be expected.

Effectively that means it takes very little effort to keep aluminium and aluminium outdoor furniture in good condition which means more time for everything else!

How easy is it to clean Aluminium Outdoor Furniture?

Very easy! Aluminium should be cleaned to prevent the build up of grime. Here is a step-by-step guide to cleaning aluminium outdoor furniture

1. Use a mild soap and water to wash your outdoor furniture to remove remove any mud, dirt, food or grease that has built up over time
2. Hose down
3. And that’s it!.

And if graffiti is sprayed on aluminium outdoor furniture or seating, it can also easily be removed with soapy water. If proving difficult to remove, the use of a high pressure water blaster is also effective for removing more stubborn graffiti.

Aluminium and Manufacturing

Aluminium is widely regarded as the number one metal for manufacturing because it is non-toxic, resistant to corrosion, has high strength, is malleable and has low-density.

Apart from outdoor furniture, aluminium is used abundantly across the manufacturing sector in particular across a range of consumer products such as toasters, cookware, refrigerators, electrical goods including laptops, computers mobile phones and throughout electrical wiring. Its hygienic nature means that is widely used in food packaging as it does not influence the taste and can be widely used for food storage. Aluminium also plays a significant role in transportation as its lightweight and strength facilitates an increase in speed and fuel efficiency.

Aluminium and Felton Industries

Felton have been using aluminium to create their outdoor furniture range since their inception. With its versatile nature, strength, suitability for outdoors, lightness and non-corrosive qualities, aluminium is a clearly a number one choice for our tables and chairs, bench seating, grandstands, shelters, bag racks and more.

Interested in finding out more about our aluminium outdoor settings? Take a look through our range of commercial outdoor furniture which all showcase the wonderful hygienic and low maintenance properties of aluminium!