[matthewrhoden1]

I never thought about it but I became curious as to what the differences are, here's what I was able to find:

[0] Aircraft grade aluminum alloy's composition roughly includes 5.6–6.1% zinc, 2.1–2.5% magnesium, 1.2–1.6% copper, and less than a half percent of silicon, iron, manganese, titanium, chromium, and other metals.

[1] Aluminum cans are typically 1% magnesium, 1% manganese, 0.4% iron, 0.2% silicon, and 0.15% copper.

There are a lot of metrics that determine the appropriate use of various grades of aircraft level alloys [2]. I guess from the outside some big considerations are how the metal reacts to temperature change and how well a metal cylinder can handle stress while staying light.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7075_aluminium_alloy [1] http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Aluminum-Beverage-Can.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_alloy

[colechristensen]

>how well a metal cylinder can handle stress while staying light.

Are we talking beer cans or rockets? Maybe they are the same after all :)

All spot on. There are lots of alloys used for lots of different things and economics and availability play their part too. When you're designing your airplane every slight detail matters.

[jccooper]

SpaceX in particular uses an AL-Li alloy, which is even stranger.