What are the RoHS concerns related to aluminum products?
A. – The issue with aluminum and RoHS is that some aluminum alloys, such as 2011, contain lead in amounts which could exceed the 0.4% allowed by the exception in clause 6 of the Annex of the RoHS directive. Fortunately, the alloys we use for standard parts do not contain any intentional additions of lead and therefore have always been RoHS compliant. With regards to chromium, any chromium present in aluminum will be in the metallic or zero valence state and is therefore not an RoHS concern since the RoHS directive restricts only hexavalent chromium which only exists in certain compounds in which the chromium has a valence state of +6 (hexavalent). A chromate finish applied to aluminum could contain hexavalent compounds. We do not apply any type of chromate finish to any of our standard aluminum products.
