1. Material strength

Q235B steel and 6005 T5 aluminum alloy extruded profile are most usually used as solar mounting brackets.

In terms of strength, 6005 T5 aluminum alloy is about 68%-69% of Q235 B steel.

2. Deflection and deformation

Under the same conditions, the deformation of aluminum alloy profile is 2.9 times that of steel, and its weight is 35% of steel.

3. Anti-corrosion

At present, the main anti-corrosion method of the solar panel brackets is  55-80μm hot-dip galvanized steel and 5-10μm anodized aluminum alloy.

Aluminum alloy is in the passivation zone in the atmosphere. And a dense oxide film is formed on its surface which prevents the surface of the active aluminum matrix from contacting the surrounding atmosphere. So it has very good corrosion resistance, and the corrosion rate increases with time And reduce.

Under normal conditions, 80μm galvanized thickness of steel can be used for more than 20 years. But in high-humidity areas or high-salinity seashores, the corrosion rate will increase. The amount of galvanizing needs to be 100μm. And it needs to be maintained regularly every year.

4. Appearance

There are many surface treatment methods for aluminum alloy profiles, such as anodizing, chemical polishing, fluorocarbon spraying, electrophoretic coating, etc. The appearance is beautiful and can adapt to a variety of strong corrosive environments.

For steel, hot-dip galvanizing, Zn-Al-Mg coating, surface spraying, paint coating, etc. are generally used. The appearance is worse than that of aluminum alloy profiles. It is also inferior to aluminum profiles in terms of corrosion resistance.

5. Diversity of section

The general processing methods of aluminum alloy profiles include extrusion, casting, bending, stamping, etc. Extrusion production is the current mainstream production method. By opening the extrusion die, any section can be produced, and the production speed is relatively fast.

The general processing methods of steel materials is rolling, casting, bending, and stamping. At present, rolling is the mainstream production method for producing cold-formed steel. The section needs to be adjusted by a roller set. But the general machine can only produce similar products or adjust the size after finalizing the shape. The sectional shape, such as C-shaped steel and Z-shaped steel, cannot be changed. The rolling production method is relatively fixed and the production speed is relatively fast.

6. Comprehensive performance comparison

The aluminum alloy profile is light in weight, beautiful in appearance, and excellent in corrosion resistance. It is generally used as solar pv mounting systems with load-bearing requirements or in strong corrosive environments.

The steel has high strength and small deflection and deformation when under load. It is generally used as solar panel mounting system with relatively large forces.