Cleaning, chemistry: why some alkaline cleaners might damage aluminum

Self-tutoring about cleaning: the tutor mentions an idea relating chemistry with cleaning.

The following is as I understand it.

The other day I needed to clean some old glue from some aluminum. There were numerous ways I considered, but ended up scraping the glue off with a pipe cleaner.

I had wanted to try an alkaline cleaner, but upon reading its directions I noticed they seem to hint against using it on aluminum. Thinking about it, I realized I shouldn’t be surprised.

Aluminum can act as a Lewis acid, while an alkaline cleaner will act as a base. Therefore, there might just as likely be a reaction between the aluminum and the alkaline cleaner.

In the end, I decided to physically scrape the glue from the aluminum.

Source:

spraynine.com

chem.libretexts.org