About Aluminium

After iron, Aluminum is the second substance available in Earth’s crust the most. It is generally encountered as the Bauxite ore in nature. It features a very good resistance to oxidation; thanks to this superior resistance it is used in many branches of the industry for the fabrication of millions of various products. Aluminum has become common in any area of our lives due to its lightness, high resistance as well as visuality and easy designability upon surface coating (Eloxal and dye).

THE PRODUCTION OF ALUMINUM

The first production type is a method by which Bauxite available in Earth’s crust is obtained. Aluminum is produced by means of the electrolyze method. As to this procedure, Aluminum oxide is melted within melted Cryolite, and thus pure metal is obtained subsequently. According to this method the heat of the reduction cells range approximately between 950 °C and 980 °C.

 

The second production type is the method of recycling scrap. The recycling process is simply predicated on re-melting Aluminum metal. This method is the most economic one and the respective production would be realized with an ullage of 5%. Its costs, however, would be equivalent to nearly 5% of those of Aluminum obtained from Bauxite.

THE HISTORY OF ALUMINUM

Although German Friederich Wöhler is known as the individual having produced the substance in 1827, Aluminum was produced in an impure state two years prior to that date by Christian Quersted, a Danish physicist and chemist.

In 1846 French Henri Saint-Claire Deville developed Wöhler’s expensive method by using Sodium instead of Potassium. In 1886 American Charles Martin Hall invented the production method of Aluminum by means of electrolytic processing. In the same year, however, French Paul Heroult, ignorant of Hall’s invention, developed the same technique in Europe. Therefore, this process is named all over the world the Hall-Heroult Method after both scientists and it is used as the basic production method. 

ALUMINUM AND ENVIRONMENT 

Aluminum features an eternal recyclability in our world and no loss of quality occurs during recycling, which means that it can be recycled at 100%. Aluminum creates a very ecological balance for the environment by virtue of properties as long life, low maintenance, good recyclability and low weight (transportation)