What are the main differences between copper and aluminium?
Hydro Aluminium Precision Tubing: First of all, copper has a much higher density, which is well over three times the density of aluminium. At the same time, the tensile strength of aluminium is lower, compared to copper. This makes it necessary to increase the wall thickness of the aluminium tube compared to a copper tube in cases where there are specific demands regarding burst pressures. However, such an increase in the wall thickness does not affect the formability compared to copper tubes. Aluminium has excellent formability characteristics that make it highly suitable for use in the HVACR industry. With respect to thermodynamic characteristics, the heat transfer coefficient of aluminium is lower than that of copper. In a complete heat exchanger, the tube material heat transfer coefficient only affects a fraction of the total heat transfer, meaning that the performance of an all-aluminium heat exchanger is fully comparable with traditional heat exchangers with copper tubes.

Is aluminium better for HVACR than copper?
Hydro Aluminium Precision Tubing: Using aluminium tubes in combination with aluminium fin stock offers great advantages to copper tubes in terms of corrosion resistance of the end product. Aluminium tubes are considerably lighter than copper tubes, even when wall thickness is compensated in order to meet burst pressure demands. Further, all-aluminium heat exchangers offer fully comparable or even better thermal performance compared to traditional copper-based heat exchangers. Thus, together with the cost savings of replacing copper with aluminium, the accumulated benefits of switching to all-aluminium heat exchangers are considerable.