Aluminium or aluminum

Aluminium or aluminum (US English) is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances. Aluminium is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant metal, in the Earth's crust. Sony VAIO VPCEB190X Battery

It makes up about 8% by weight of the Earth's solid surface. Aluminium metal is too reactive chemically to occur natively. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different minerals.[4] The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite.

Aluminium is remarkable for the metal's low density and for its ability to resist corrosion due to the phenomenon ofpassivation.Sony VAIO VPCEB19FX Battery

Structural components made from aluminium and its alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and are important in other areas of transportation and structural materials. The most useful compounds of aluminium, at least on a weight basis, are the oxides and sulfates.Sony VAIO VPCEB19GX Battery

Despite its prevalence in the environment, aluminium salts are not known to be used by any form of life. In keeping with its pervasiveness, it is well tolerated by plants and animals.Because of their prevalence, potential biological roles, beneficial and otherwise, aluminium compounds are of continuing interest.Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX Battery

Physical

Aluminium is a soft, durable, lightweight, ductile and malleable metal with appearance ranging from silvery to dull gray, depending on the surface roughness. Aluminium is nonmagnetic and does not easily ignite. Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX/B Battery

A fresh film of aluminium film serves as a good reflector (approximately 92%) of visible light and an excellent reflector (as much as 98%) of medium and far infrared radiation. The yield strength of pure aluminium is 7–11 MPa, while aluminium alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa.Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX Battery

Aluminium has about one-third the density and stiffness of steel. It is easily machined, cast, drawnand extruded.

Corrosion resistance can be excellent due to a thin surface layer of aluminium oxide that forms when the metal is exposed to air, effectively preventing further oxidation. Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX/BI Battery

The strongest aluminium alloys are less corrosion resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed copper. This corrosion resistance is also often greatly reduced when many aqueous salts are present, particularly in the presence of dissimilar metals.

Aluminium atoms are arranged in a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure. Aluminium has a stacking-fault energy of approximately 200 mJ/m2.Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX Battery

Aluminium is one of the few metals that retain full silvery reflectance in finely powdered form, making it an important component of silver-colored paints. Aluminium mirror finish has the highest reflectance of any metal in the 200–400 nm (UV) and the 3,000–10,000 nm (far IR) regions;Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX/BI Battery

in the 400–700 nm visible range it is slightly outperformed by tin and silver and in the 700–3000 (near IR) by silver, gold, and copper.

Aluminium is a good thermal and electrical conductor, having 59% the conductivity of copper, both thermal and electrical.Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX Battery

Aluminium is capable of being a superconductor, with a superconducting critical temperature of 1.2 Kelvin and a critical magnetic field of about 100 gauss (10 milliteslas).

Creation

Stable aluminium is created when hydrogen fuses with magnesium either in large stars or in supernovae. Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX/BI Battery

Isotopes

Aluminium has many known isotopes, whose mass numbers range from 21 to 42; however, only 27Al (stable isotope) and 26Al (radioactive isotope, t1/2 = 7.2×105 y) occur naturally. 27Al has a natural abundance above 99.9%. 26Al is produced from argonin the atmosphere by spallation caused by cosmic-ray protons. Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX Battery

Aluminium isotopes have found practical application in datingmarine sediments, manganese nodules, glacial ice, quartz in rock exposures, and meteorites. The ratio of 26Al to 10Be has been used to study the role of transport, deposition, sediment storage, burial times, and erosion on 105 to 106 year time scales.Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX/BI Battery

Cosmogenic 26Al was first applied in studies of the Moon and meteorites. Meteoroid fragments, after departure from their parent bodies, are exposed to intense cosmic-ray bombardment during their travel through space, causing substantial 26Al production.Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX Battery

After falling to Earth, atmospheric shielding drastically reduces 26Al production, and its decay can then be used to determine the meteorite's terrestrial age. Meteorite research has also shown that 26Al was relatively abundant at the time of formation of our planetary system. Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX/BI Battery

Most meteorite scientists believe that the energy released by the decay of 26Al was responsible for the melting and differentiation of some asteroids after their formation 4.55 billion years ago.

Natural occurrence

In the Earth's crust, aluminium is the most abundant (8.3% by weight) metallic element and the third most abundant of all elements (after oxygen and silicon).Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX Battery

Because of its strong affinity to oxygen, it is almost never found in the elemental state; instead it is found in oxides or silicates. Feldspars, the most common group of minerals in the Earth's crust, are aluminosilicates. Native aluminium metal can be found as a minor phase in low oxygen fugacity environments, such as the interiors of certain volcanoes.Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX/BI Battery

Native aluminium has been reported in cold seeps in the northeastern continental slope of the South China Sea and Chen et al. (2011)have proposed a theory of its origin as resulting by reduction from tetrahydroxoaluminate Al(OH)4- to metallic aluminium by bacteria.Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX Battery

It also occurs in the minerals beryl, cryolite, garnet, spinel and turquoise. Impurities in Al2O3, such as chromium or ironyield the gemstones ruby and sapphire, respectively.

Although aluminium is an extremely common and widespread element, the common aluminium minerals are not economic sources of the metal. Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX/BI Battery

Almost all metallic aluminium is produced from the ore bauxite (AlOx(OH)3-2x). Bauxite occurs as a weatheringproduct of low iron and silica bedrock in tropical climatic conditions. Large deposits of bauxite occur in Australia,Brazil, Guinea and Jamaica and the primary mining areas for the ore are in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Guinea,Indonesia, Jamaica, Russia and Surinam.Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX Battery

Production and refinement

Although aluminium is the most abundant metallic element in the Earth's crust, it is never found in free, metallic form (with above mentioned exceptions).

Aluminium forms strong chemical bonds with oxygen. Compared to most other metals, it is difficult to extract from ore, such asbauxite, due to the energy required to reduce aluminium oxide (Al2O3). Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX/BI Battery

For example, direct reduction with carbon, as is used to produce iron, is not chemically possible, since aluminium is a stronger reducing agent than carbon. There is an indirect carbothermic reduction possible by using carbon and Al2O3, which forms an intermediate Al4C3 and this can further yield aluminium metal at a temperature of 1900–2000°C.Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX Battery

This process is still under development. This process costs less energy and yields less CO2 than the Hall-Héroult process, the major industrial process for aluminium extraction. Aluminium oxide has a melting point of about 2,000 °C (3,600 °F). Therefore, it must be extracted by electrolysis. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/B Battery

In this process, the aluminium oxide is dissolved in molten cryolite with calcium fluoride and then reduced to the pure metal. The operational temperature of the reduction cells is around 950 to 980 °C (1,740 to 1,800 °F). Cryolite is found as a mineral in Greenland, but in industrial use it has been replaced by a synthetic substance. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/G Battery

Cryolite is a chemical compound of aluminium and sodium fluorides: (Na3AlF6). The aluminium oxide (a white powder) is obtained by refining bauxite in the Bayer process of Karl Bayer. (Previously, the Deville process was the predominant refining technology.)

The electrolytic process replaced the Wöhler process, which involved the reduction of anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium.Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/L Battery

Both of the electrodes used in the electrolysis of aluminium oxide are carbon. Once the refined alumina is dissolved in the electrolyte, its ions are free to move around. The reaction at the cathode is:

Al3+ + 3 e? ? Al

Here the aluminium ion is being reduced. The aluminium metal then sinks to the bottom and is tapped off, usually cast into large blocks called aluminium billets for further processing.Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/P Battery

At the anode, oxygen is formed:

2 O2? ? O2 + 4 e?

To some extent, the carbon anode is degraded by the oxygen. The anodes in a reduction cell must therefore be replaced regularly, since they are consumed in the process. The cathodes do erode, mainly due to electrochemical processes and metal movement.Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/W Battery

After five to ten years, depending on the current used in the electrolysis, a cell has to be rebuilt because of cathode wear.

Aluminium electrolysis with the Hall-Héroult process consumes a lot of energy, but alternative processes were always found to be less viable economically and/or ecologically. Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX Battery

The worldwide average specific energy consumption is approximately 15±0.5 kilowatt-hours per kilogram of aluminium produced (52 to 56 MJ/kg). The most modern smelters achieve approximately 12.8 kW·h/kg (46.1 MJ/kg). (Compare this to the heat of reaction, 31 MJ/kg, and the Gibbs free energy of reaction, 29 MJ/kg.)Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/B Battery

Reduction line currents for older technologies are typically 100 to 200 kiloamperes; state-of-the-art smelters operate at about 350 kA. Trials have been reported with 500 kA cells.

The Hall-Heroult process produces aluminium with a purity of above 99%. Further purification can be done by the Hoope process.Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/W Battery

The process involves the electrolysis of molten aluminium with a sodium, barium and aluminium fluoride electrolyte. The resulting aluminium has a purity of 99.99%.

Electric power represents about 20% to 40% of the cost of producing aluminium, depending on the location of the smelter. Aluminium production consumes roughly 5% of electricity generated in the U.S.Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX Battery

Smelters tend to be situated where electric power is both plentiful and inexpensive, such as the United Arab Emirates with excess natural gas supplies and Iceland and Norway with energy generated from renewable sources. The world's largest smelters of alumina are People's Republic of China, Russia, and Quebec and British Columbia in Canada.Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/BI Battery

In 2005, the People's Republic of China was the top producer of aluminium with almost a one-fifth world share, followed by Russia, Canada, and the USA, reports the British Geological Survey.

Over the last 50 years, Australia has become a major producer of bauxite ore and a major producer and exporter of alumina (before being overtaken by China in 2007).Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/WI Battery

Australia produced 62 million tonnes of bauxite in 2005. The Australian deposits have some refining problems, some being high in silica, but have the advantage of being shallow and relatively easy to mine.

Recycling

Production and refinement

Aluminium is theoretically 100% recyclable without any loss of its natural qualities. Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX Battery

According to the International Resource Panel's Metal Stocks in Society report, the global per capita stock of aluminium in use in society (i.e. in cars, buildings, electronics etc.) is 80 kg. Much of this is in more-developed countries (350–500 kg per capita) rather than less-developed countries (35 kg per capita). Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX/BI Battery

Knowing the per capita stocks and their approximate lifespans is important for planning recycling.

Recovery of the metal via recycling has become an important facet of the aluminium industry. Recycling was a low-profile activity until the late 1960s, when the growing use of aluminium beverage cans brought it to the public awareness.Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX Battery

Recycling involves melting the scrap, a process that requires only 5% of the energy used to produce aluminium from ore, though a significant part (up to 15% of the input material) is lost as dross (ash-like oxide).The dross can undergo a further process to extract aluminium.Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/B Battery

In Europe aluminium experiences high rates of recycling, ranging from 42% of beverage cans, 85% of construction materials and 95% of transport vehicles.

Recycled aluminium is known as secondary aluminium, but maintains the same physical properties as primary aluminium.Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/L Battery

Secondary aluminium is produced in a wide range of formats and is employed in 80% of alloy injections. Another important use is for extrusion.

White dross from primary aluminium production and from secondary recycling operations still contains useful quantities of aluminium that can be extracted industrially.Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/P Battery

The process produces aluminium billets, together with a highly complex waste material. This waste is difficult to manage. It reacts with water, releasing a mixture of gases (including, among others, hydrogen, acetylene, and ammonia), which spontaneously ignites on contact with air;Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/W Battery

contact with damp air results in the release of copious quantities of ammonia gas. Despite these difficulties, the waste has found use as a filler in asphalt and concrete.

Oxidation state +3

The vast majority of compounds, including all Al-containing minerals and all commercially significant aluminium compounds, feature aluminium in the oxidation state 3+. Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX Battery

The coordination number of such compounds varies, but generally Al3+ is six-coordinate or tetracoordinate. Almost all compounds of aluminium(III) are colorless.[13]

Halides

All four trihalides are well known. Unlike the structures of the three heavier trihalides, aluminium fluoride (AlF3) features six-coordinate Al. Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX/B Battery

The octahedral coordination environment for AlF3 is related to the compactness of fluoride ion, six of which can fit around the small Al3+ centre. AlF3 sublimes (with cracking) at1,291 °C (2,356 °F). With heavier halides, the coordination numbers are lower. The other trihalides are dimeric or polymeric with tetrahedral Al centers.Sony VAIO VPCEB1QGX Battery

These materials are prepared by treating aluminium metal with the halogen, although other methods exist. Acidification of the oxides or hydroxides affords hydrates. In aqueous solution, the halides often form mixtures, generally containing six-coordinate Al centres, which are feature both halide and aquo ligands.Sony VAIO VPCEB1QGX/BI Battery

When aluminium and fluoride are together in aqueous solution, they readily form complex ions such as [AlF(H2O)5]2+, AlF3(H2O)3, and [AlF6]3?. In the case of chloride, polyaluminium clusters are formed such as [Al13O4(OH)24(H2O)12]7+.

Oxide and hydroxides

Aluminium forms one stable oxide, known by its mineral name corundum.Sony VAIO VPCEB1RGX Battery

Sapphire and ruby are impure corundum contaminated with trace amounts of other metals. The two oxide-hydroxides (AlO(OH) are boehmite and diaspore. There are three trihydroxides: bayerite, gibbsite, and nordstrandite, which differ in their crystalline structure (polymorphs). Most are produced from ores by a variety of wet processes using acid and base. Sony VAIO VPCEB1RGX/BI Battery

Heating the hydroxides leads to formation of corundrum. These materials are of central importance to the production of aluminium and are themselves extremely useful.

Carbide, nitride, and related materials

Aluminium carbide (Al4C3) is made by heating a mixture of the elements above 1,000 °C (1,832 °F). Sony VAIO VPCEB20 Battery

The pale yellow crystals consist of tetrahedral aluminium centres. It reacts with water or dilute acids to give methane. The acetylide, Al2(C2)3, is made by passing acetylene over heated aluminium.

Aluminium nitride (AlN) is the only nitride known for aluminium. Unlike the oxides it features tetrahedral Al centres.Sony VAIO VPCEC20 Battery

It can be made from the elements at 800 °C(1,472 °F). It is air-stable material with a usefully high thermal conductivity. Aluminium phosphide (AlP) is made similarly, and hydrolyses to give phosphine:

AlP + 3 H2O ? Al(OH)3 + PH3

Organoaluminium compounds and related hydrides

A variety of compounds of empirical formula AlR3 and AlR1.5Cl1.5 exist.Sony VAIO VPCEE20 Battery

These species usually feature tetrahedral Al centres, e.g. "trimethylaluminium" has the formula Al2(CH3)6 (see figure). With large organic groups, triorganoaluminium exist as three-coordinate monomers, such as triisobutylaluminium. Such compounds are widely used in industrial chemistry, despite the fact that they are often highly pyrophoric. Sony VAIO VPCEF20 Battery

Few analogues exist between organoaluminium and organoboron compounds except for large organic groups.

The important aluminium hydride is lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH4), which is used in as a reducing agent in organic chemistry. It can be produced from lithium hydride and aluminium trichloride: Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery

4 LiH + AlCl3 ? LiAlH4 + 3 LiCl

Several useful derivatives of LiAlH4 are known, e.g. Sodium bis(2-methoxyethoxy)dihydridoaluminate. The simplest hydride,aluminium hydride or alane, remains a laboratory curiosity. It is a polymer with the formula (AlH3)n, in contrast to the corresponding boron hydride with the formula (BH3)2. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

Oxidation states +1 and +2

Although the great majority of aluminium compounds feature Al3+ centres, compounds with lower oxidation states are known and sometime of significance as precursors to the Al3+ species.Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

Aluminium(I)

AlF, AlCl and AlBr exist in the gaseous phase when the tri-halide is heated with aluminium. The composition AlI is unstable at room temperature with respect to the triiodide:

3 AlI ? AlI3 + 2 Al

A stable derivative of aluminium monoiodide is the cyclic adduct formed with triethylamine, Al4I4(NEt3)4.Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

Also of theoretical interest but only of fleeting existence are Al2O and Al2S is made by heating the normal oxide, Al2O3, with silicon at 1,800 °C (3,272 °F) in a vacuum.[31] Such materials quickly disproportionates to the starting materials.

Aluminium(II)

Very simple Al(II) compounds are invoked or observed in the reactions of Al metal with oxidants. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

For example, aluminium monoxide, AlO, has been detected in the gas phase after explosion[32] and in stellar absorption spectra.[33]More thoroughly investigated are compounds of the formula R4Al2 where R is a large organic ligand.[34]

Analysis

The presence of aluminium can be detected in qualitative analysis using aluminon.Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

Applications

Aluminium is the most widely used non-ferrous metal.Global production of aluminium in 2005 was 31.9 million tonnes. It exceeded that of any other metal exceptiron (837.5 million tonnes).Forecast for 2012 is 42–45 million tons, driven by rising Chinese output.Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

Aluminium is almost always alloyed, which markedly improves its mechanical properties, especially when tempered. For example, the common aluminium foils and beverage cans are alloys of 92% to 99% aluminium. The main alloying agents are copper, zinc, magnesium, manganese, and silicon (e.g., duralumin) and the levels of these other metals are in the range of a few percent by weight.Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

Some of the many uses for aluminium metal are in:

• Transportation (automobiles, aircraft, trucks, railway cars, marine vessels, bicycles, etc.) as sheet, tube, castings, etc.
• Packaging (cans, foil, etc.)
• Construction (windows, doors, siding, building wire, etc.)Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery
• A wide range of household items, from cooking utensils to baseball bats, watches.
• Street lighting poles, sailing ship masts, walking poles, etc.
• Outer shells of consumer electronics, also cases for equipment e.g. photographic equipment.
• Electrical transmission lines for power distribution Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery
• MKM steel and Alnico magnets
• Super purity aluminium (SPA, 99.980% to 99.999% Al), used in electronics and CDs.
• Heat sinks for electronic appliances such as transistors and CPUs.
• Substrate material of metal-core copper clad laminates used in high brightness LED lighting.
• Powdered aluminium is used in paint, and in pyrotechnics such as solid rocket fuels and thermite.Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery
• Aluminium can be reacted with hydrochloric acid or with sodium hydroxide to produce hydrogen gas.
• A variety of countries, including France, Italy, Poland, Finland, Romania, Israel, and the former Yugoslavia, have issued coinsstruck in aluminium or aluminium-copper alloys.Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery
• Some guitar models sports aluminium diamond plates on the surface of the instruments, usually either chrome or black. Kramer Guitars and Travis Bean are both known for having produced guitars with necks made of aluminium, which gives the instrument a very distinct sound.
• Sustainability of Aluminium in Buildings Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

Relatively pure aluminium is rarely encountered – only when corrosion resistance and/or workability is more important than strength or hardness. A thin layer of aluminium can be deposited onto a flat surface by physical vapour deposition or (very infrequently) chemical vapour deposition or other chemical means to form optical coatings and mirrors.Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

Aluminium compounds

Because aluminium is abundant and most of its derivative exhibit low toxicity, the compounds of aluminium enjoy wide and sometimes large-scale applications.

Alumina

Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and the associated oxy-hydroxides and trihydroxides are produced or extracted from minerals on a large scale. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

The great majority of this material is converted to metallic aluminium. About 10% of the production capacity is used for other applications. A major use is as an absorbent, for example alumina will remove water from hydrocarbons, to enable subsequent processes that are poisoned by moisture. Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

Aluminium oxides are common catalysts for industrial processes, e.g. the Claus processfor converting hydrogen sulfide to sulfur in refineries and for the alkylation of amines. Many industrial catalysts are"supported", meaning generally that an expensive catalyst (e.g., platinum) is dispersed over a high surface area material such as alumina. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

Being a very hard material (Mohs hardness 9), alumina is widely used as an abrasive and the production of applications that exploit its inertness, e.g., in high pressure sodium lamps.

Sulfates

Several sulfates of aluminium find applications. Aluminium sulfate (Al2(SO4)3(H2O)18) is produced on the annual scale of several billions of kilograms. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

About half of the production is consumed in water treatment. The next major application is in the manufacture of paper. It is also used as a mordant, in fire extinguisher, as a food additive, in fireproofing, and in leather tanning. Aluminium ammonium sulfate ([Al(NH4)](SO4)2)(H2O)12, also called ammonium alum, is used as a mordant and inleather tanning.Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

Aluminium potassium sulfate ([Al(K)](SO4)2)(H2O)12 is used similarly. The consumption of both alums is declining.

Chlorides

Aluminium chloride (AlCl3) is used in petroleum refining and in the production of synthetic rubber and polymers.Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

Although it has a similar name, aluminium chlorohydrate has fewer and very different applications, e.g. as an hardening agent and an antiperspirant. It is an intermediate in the production of aluminium metal.

Niche compounds

Given the scale of aluminium compounds, a small scale application could still involve thousands of tons. Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

One of the many compounds used at this intermediate level include aluminium acetate, a salt used in solution as an astringent. Aluminium borate (Al2O3 B2O3) is used in the production of glass and ceramics. Aluminium fluorosilicate (Al2(SiF6)3) is used in the production of synthetic gemstones, glass and ceramic.Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery

Aluminium phosphate (AlPO4) is used in the manufacture: of glass and ceramic, pulp and paper products, cosmetics, paints and varnishes and in making dental cement. Aluminium hydroxide (Al(OH)3) is used as an antacid, as a mordant, inwater purification, in the manufacture of glass and ceramic and in the waterproofing of fabrics. Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery

Lithium aluminium hydride is a powerful reducing agent used inorganic chemistry. Organoaluminiums are used as Lewis acids and cocatalysts. For example, methylaluminoxane is a cocatalyst for Ziegler-Natta olefin polymerizationto produce vinyl polymers such as polyethene.Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/B Battery

Aluminium alloys in structural applications

Aluminium alloys with a wide range of properties are used in engineering structures. Alloy systems are classified by a number system (ANSI) or by names indicating their main alloying constituents (DIN and ISO).Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/D Battery

The strength and durability of aluminium alloys vary widely, not only as a result of the components of the specific alloy, but also as a result of heat treatments and manufacturing processes. A lack of knowledge of these aspects has from time to time led to improperly designed structures and gained aluminium a bad reputation.Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/G Battery

One important structural limitation of aluminium alloys is their fatigue strength. Unlike steels, aluminium alloys have no well-defined fatigue limit, meaning that fatigue failure eventually occurs, under even very small cyclic loadings. This implies that engineers must assess these loads and design for a fixed life rather than an infinite life.Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/P Battery

Another important property of aluminium alloys is their sensitivity to heat. Workshop procedures involving heating are complicated by the fact that aluminium, unlike steel, melts without first glowing red. Forming operations where a blow torch is used therefore require some expertise, since no visual signs reveal how close the material is to melting.Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/W Battery

Aluminium alloys, like all structural alloys, also are subject to internal stresses following heating operations such as welding and casting. The problem with aluminium alloys in this regard is their low melting point, which make them more susceptible to distortions from thermally induced stress relief. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/B Battery

Controlled stress relief can be done during manufacturing by heat-treating the parts in an oven, followed by gradual cooling—in effect annealing the stresses.

The low melting point of aluminium alloys has not precluded their use in rocketry; even for use in constructing combustion chambers where gases can reach 3500 K. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/D Battery

The Agena upper stage engine used a regeneratively cooled aluminium design for some parts of the nozzle, including the thermally critical throat region.

Another alloy of some value is aluminium bronze (CuAl5).Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/G Battery

History

Ancient Greeks and Romans used aluminium salts as dyeing mordants and as astringents for dressing wounds; alum is still used as astyptic. In 1761, Guyton de Morveau suggested calling the base alum alumine. In 1808, Humphry Davy identified the existence of a metal base of alum, which he at first termed alumium and later aluminum (see etymology section, below).Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/P Battery

The metal was first produced in 1825 (in an impure form) by Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted. He reactedanhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium amalgam and yielded a lump of metal looking similar to tin. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/W Battery

Friedrich Wöhler was aware of these experiments and cited them, but after redoing the experiments of Ørsted he concluded that this metal was pure potassium. He conducted a similar experiment in 1827 by mixing anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium and yielded aluminium.Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/B Battery

Wöhler is generally credited with isolating aluminium (Latin alumen, alum), but also Ørsted can be listed as its discoverer.Further, Pierre Berthier discovered aluminium in bauxite ore and successfully extracted it. Frenchman Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville improved Wöhler's method in 1846, Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/B Battery

and described his improvements in a book in 1859, chief among these being the substitution of sodium for the considerably more expensive potassium.[45] Deville likely also conceived the idea of the electrolysis of aluminium oxide dissolved in cryolite; Charles Martin Hall and Paul Héroult might have developed the more practical process after Deville.Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/D Battery

Before the Hall-Héroult process was developed in the late 1880s, aluminium was exceedingly difficult to extract from its variousores. This made pure aluminium more valuable than gold. Bars of aluminium were exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1855.Napoleon III, Emperor of France, is reputed to have given a banquet where the most honoured guests were given aluminium utensils, while the others made do with gold.Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/D Battery

Aluminium was selected as the material to be used for the 100 ounce (2.8 kg) capstone of the Washington Monument in 1884, a time when one ounce (30 grams) cost the daily wage of a common worker on the project; The capstone, which was set in place on December 6, 1884, in an elaborate dedication ceremony, was the largest single piece of aluminium cast at the time, when aluminium was as expensive as silver.Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/G Battery

The Cowles companies supplied aluminium alloy in quantity in the United States and England using smelters like the furnace of Carl Wilhelm Siemens by 1886. Charles Martin Hall of Ohio in the U.S. and Paul Héroult of France independently developed the Hall-Héroult electrolytic process that made extracting aluminium from minerals cheaper and is now the principal method used worldwide. Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/G Battery

Hall's process, in 1888 with the financial backing of Alfred E. Hunt, started the Pittsburgh Reduction Company today known as Alcoa. Héroult's process was in production by 1889 in Switzerland at Aluminium Industrie, now Alcan, and at British Aluminium, now Luxfer Group and Alcoa, by 1896 in Scotland.Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/P Battery

By 1895, the metal was being used as a building material as far away as Sydney, Australia in the dome of the Chief Secretary's Building.

Many navies have used an aluminium superstructure for their vessels; the 1975 fire aboard USS Belknap that gutted her aluminium superstructure, as well as observation of battle damage to British ships during the Falklands War, Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/P Battery

led to many navies switching to all steel superstructures. The Arleigh Burke class was the first such U.S. ship, being constructed entirely of steel.

Aluminium wire was once widely used for domestic electrical wiring. Owing to corrosion-induced failures, a number of fires resulted. This discontinuation thus illustrates one failed application of the otherwise highly useful metal.Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/W Battery

In 2008, the price of aluminium peaked at $1.45/lb in July but dropped to $0.70/lb by December.

Etymology

Two variants of the metal's name are in current use, aluminium and aluminum (besides the obsolete alumium).Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/W Battery

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry(IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990 but, three years later, recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant. Hence their periodic table includes both. Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/B Battery

IUPAC prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although nearly as many IUPAC publications use the spellingaluminum.

Most countries use the spelling aluminium. In the United States, the spelling aluminum predominates.The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium. Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/D Battery

In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications; American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant.

The name aluminium derives from its status as a base of alum. It is borrowed from Old French; its ultimate source, alumen, in turn is a Latin word that literally means "bitter salt".Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/G Battery

The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davyemployed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/P Battery

The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: "Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium."Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/W Battery

Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: "This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina."Sony VAIO VPCP115JC Battery

But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy's book, objected toaluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/B Battery

The -ium suffix conformed to the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the 16th century,Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/D Battery

molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802. The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide, as lanthana is the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria are the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium respectively.Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/G Battery

The spelling used throughout the 19th century by most U.S. chemists was aluminium, but common usage is less clear. The aluminumspelling is used in the Webster's Dictionary of 1828. In his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal 1892, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling, Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/P Battery

despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. It has consequently been suggested that the spelling reflects an easier to pronounce word with one fewer syllable, or that the spelling on the flier was a mistake. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spellingaluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium version.Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/W Battery

Health concerns

Despite its natural abundance, aluminium has no known function in biology. It is remarkably nontoxic, aluminium sulfate having an LD50 of 6207 mg/kg (oral, mouse), which corresponds to 500 grams for a 80 kg person.Sony VAIO VPCP115KG Battery

Despite the extremely low acute toxicity, the health effects of aluminium are of interest in view of the widespread occurrence of the element in the environment and in commerce.

Some toxicity can be traced to deposition in bone and the central nervous system, which is particularly increased in patients with reduced renal function. Sony VAIO VPCP116KG Battery

Because aluminium competes with calcium for absorption, increased amounts of dietary aluminium may contribute to the reduced skeletal mineralization (osteopenia) observed in preterm infants and infants with growth retardation. In very high doses, aluminium can cause neurotoxicity, and is associated with altered function of the blood-brain barrier.Sony VAIO VPC-P116KX/B Battery

A small percentage of people are allergic to aluminium and experience contact dermatitis, digestive disorders, vomiting or other symptoms upon contact or ingestion of products containing aluminium, such as deodorants or antacids. In those without allergies, aluminium is not as toxic as heavy metals, but there is evidence of some toxicity if it is consumed in excessive amounts.Sony VAIO VPC-P116KX/D Battery

Although the use of aluminium cookware has not been shown to lead to aluminium toxicity in general, excessive consumption of antacidscontaining aluminium compounds and excessive use of aluminium-containing antiperspirants provide more significant exposure levels. Sony VAIO VPC-P116KX/G Battery

Studies have shown that consumption of acidic foods or liquids with aluminium significantly increases aluminium absorption,and maltol has been shown to increase the accumulation of aluminium in nervous and osseus tissue. Furthermore, aluminium increases estrogen-related gene expression in human breast cancer cells cultured in the laboratory.Sony VAIO VPC-P116KX/P Battery

The estrogen-like effects of these salts have led to their classification as a metalloestrogen.

The effects of aluminium in antiperspirants has been examined over the course of decades with little evidence of skin irritation.Nonetheless, its occurrence inantiperspirants, dyes (such as aluminium lake), and food additives is controversial in some quarters.Sony VAIO VPC-P116KX/W Battery

Although there is little evidence that normal exposure to aluminium presents a risk to healthy adults, some studies point to risks associated with increased exposure to the metal. Aluminium in food may be absorbed more than aluminium from water. Sony VAIO VPCP118JC Battery

Some researchers have expressed concerns that the aluminium in antiperspirants may increase the risk of breast cancer, and aluminium has controversially been implicated as a factor in Alzheimer's disease. The Camelford water pollution incident involved a number of people consumingaluminium sulfate. Sony VAIO VPCP118JC/B Battery

Investigations of the long-term health effects are still ongoing, but elevated brain aluminium concentrations have been found in post-mortem examinations of victims, and further research to determine if there is a link with cerebral amyloid angiopathy has been commissioned.Sony VAIO VPCP118JC/P Battery

According to The Alzheimer's Society, the overwhelming medical and scientific opinion is that studies have not convincingly demonstrated a causal relationship between aluminium and Alzheimer's disease. Nevertheless, some studies, such as those on the PAQUID cohort, cite aluminium exposure as a risk factor forAlzheimer's disease. Sony VAIO VPCP118JC/W Battery

Some brain plaques have been found to contain increased levels of the metal. Research in this area has been inconclusive; aluminium accumulation may be a consequence of the disease rather than a causal agent. In any event, if there is any toxicity of aluminium, it must be via a very specific mechanism, since total human exposure to the element in the form of naturally occurring clay in soil and dust is enormously large over a lifetime.Sony VAIO VPC-P118KX/B Battery

Scientific consensus does not yet exist about whether aluminium exposure could directly increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Effect on plants

Aluminium is primary among the factors that reduce plant growth on acid soils. Although it is generally harmless to plant growth in pH-neutral soils, the concentration in acid soils of toxic Al3+ cations increases and disturbs root growth and function.Sony VAIO VPC-P118KX/D Battery

Most acid soils are saturated with aluminium rather than hydrogen ions. The acidity of the soil is therefore a result of hydrolysis of aluminium compounds. This concept of "corrected lime potential" to define the degree of base saturation in soils became the basis for procedures now used in soil testing laboratories to determine the "lime requirement" of soils.Sony VAIO VPC-P118KX/G Battery

Wheat's adaptation to allow aluminium tolerance is such that the aluminium induces a release of organic compounds that bind to the harmful aluminium cations. Sorghumis believed to have the same tolerance mechanism. The first gene for aluminium tolerance has been identified in wheat. Sony VAIO VPC-P118KX/P Battery

It was shown that sorghum's aluminium tolerance is controlled by a single gene, as for wheat. This is not the case in all plants.

Aluminium: The Thirteenth Element is a Russian encyclopedia completely devoted to aluminium. The encyclopedia is published byUnited Company RUSAL, at the end of 2007, in both Russian and English. Four thousand copies were printed (240 pages).Sony VAIO VPC-P118KX/W Battery

The encyclopedia covers various areas of aluminium application, starting from car engineering and architecture to jewellery andfashion, recounts how this metal was discovered, and describes technologies of its production, its properties and benefits for various spheres of life.Sony VAIO VPCP119JC Battery

The book consists of 9 chapters, with a index/glossary and name index enclosed at the end. The encyclopedia contains diversified illustrative materials stemming from Russia and from overseas photo archives, museums and private collections.Sony VAIO VPCP119JC/BI Battery

Contents

• Chapter 1. The History of Aluminium Before the 19th Century. Historical background of aluminium in ancient times; archeological findings containing aluminium; first historic mentionings of aluminium articles; information about 'alum' – compound substances with chemical structures containing aluminium; production technologies alum and areas of their application in the Ancient Times and Middle Ages.Sony VAIO VPCP11S1E/B Battery
• Chapter 2. How the Metal Was Discovered. Scientists and technologies associated with the first attempts to produce pure aluminium; the beginning of the industrial production of the metal and birth of aluminium manufacturing in different countries of the world; use of cryolite; deployment of aluminium in the 19th century; first machine-made aluminium products.Sony VAIO VPC-P11S1E/B Battery
• Chapter 3. A Precious Metal Becomes Industrial. Versatile methods of metals production starting from the 19th century, pioneering scientists (with examples, cuttings and illustrations from their patents) in this sphere and the role of electric current in reduction and decomposition of metals; aluminium applications in the late XIX — early 20th century, use of aluminium alloys in different spheres of life back in those times.
• Chapter 4. Aluminium Production in Russia and the USSR: the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries. Development of aluminium smelting technologies in Russia, first domestically produced metal and its applications in the Soviet times.Sony VAIO VPCP11S1E/D Battery
• Chapter 5. The Modern aluminium smelter. Contemporary aluminium production sites in different countries: used raw materials, cutting-edge methods, technologies and stages in production of aluminium; world's aluminium consumption structure and output; aluminium production process profile as exemplified by operation of modern potrooms at aluminium smelters, recycling and secondary use of aluminium in the world.Sony VAIO VPC-P11S1E/D Battery
• Chapter 6. A Metal Resembling Tin in Color and Luster. Basic data on the structure of aluminium atoms; different compounds containing aluminium; chemical and physical properties; different reactions involving aluminium.Sony VAIO VPCP11S1E/G Battery
• Chapter 7. The Earth and Beyond (Aluminium Minerals). Most important aluminium minerals (oxide, sulfate, hydroxide, aluminosilicates, etc.); extraction, manufacture and use of precious stones made of aluminium minerals (like ruby, sapphire, etc.).Sony VAIO VPC-P11S1E/G Battery
• Chapter 8. Aluminium around us. Various aluminium applications from packaging and kitchenware through to use in various industries (like aviation, space technology, car manufacturing, electrical engineering, railway, chemical and fuel industries); deployment of the metal in construction; aluminium in the human body.Sony VAIO VPCP11S1E/P Battery
• Chapter 9. Aluminium and art. Use of aluminium in architecture, sculpture, furniture production, design, jewellery and fashion.
• On the Threshold of the Aluminium Age. Role of the metal in evolution and the future of aluminium in the 21st century.Sony VAIO VPCP11S1E/W Battery

Aluminium alloys are alloys in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon and zinc. There are two principal classifications, namely casting alloys and wrought alloys, both of which are further subdivided into the categories heat-treatable and non-heat-treatable.Sony VAIO VPC-P11S1E/W Battery

About 85% of aluminium is used for wrought products, for example rolled plate, foils and extrusions. Cast aluminium alloys yield cost effective products due to the low melting point, although they generally have lower tensile strengths than wrought alloys. Sony VAIO VPCP11Z9E/B Battery

The most important cast aluminium alloy system is Al-Si, where the high levels of silicon (4.0% to 13%) contribute to give good casting characteristics. Aluminium alloys are widely used in engineering structures and components where light weight or corrosion resistance is required.Sony VAIO VPCS111FM/S Battery

Alloys composed mostly of the two lightweight metals aluminium and magnesium have been very important in aerospace manufacturing since somewhat before 1940. Aluminium-magnesium alloys are both lighter than other aluminium alloys and much less flammable than alloys that contain a very high percentage of magnesium.Sony VAIO VPCS115EC Battery

Aluminium alloy surfaces will keep their apparent shine in a dry environment due to the formation of a clear, protective layer of aluminium oxide. In a wet environment, galvanic corrosion can occur when an aluminium alloy is placed in electrical contact with other metals with more negative corrosion potentials than aluminium.Sony VAIO VPCS115FG Battery

Aluminium alloy compositions are registered with The Aluminum Association. Many organizations publish more specific standards for the manufacture of aluminium alloy, including the Society of Automotive Engineers standards organization, specifically its aerospace standards subgroups, and ASTM International.Sony VAIO VPCS117GG Battery

Overview

Aluminium alloys with a wide range of properties are used in engineering structures. Alloy systems are classified by a number system (ANSI) or by names indicating their main alloying constituents (DIN and ISO). Sony VAIO VPCS117GGB Battery

Selecting the right alloy for a given application entails considerations of its tensile strength, density, ductility, formability, workability, weldability, and corrosion resistance, to name a few. A brief historical overview of alloys and manufacturing technologies is given in Ref.Sony VAIO VPCS118EC Battery

Aluminium alloys are used extensively in aircraft due to their high strength-to-weight ratio. On the other hand, pure aluminium metal is much too soft for such uses, and it does not have the high tensile strength that is needed for airplanes and helicopters.Sony VAIO VPCS119FJ/B Battery

Aluminium alloys versus types of steel

Aluminium alloys typically have an elastic modulus of about 70 GPa, which is about one-third of the elastic modulus of most kinds of steel and steel alloys. Therefore, for a given load, a component or unit made of an aluminium alloy will experience a greater elastic deformation than a steel part of the identical size and shape. Sony VAIO VPCS119GC Battery

Though there are aluminium alloys with somewhat-higher tensile strengths than the commonly used kinds of steel, simply replacing a steel part with an aluminium alloy might lead to problems.

With completely new metal products, the design choices are often governed by the choice of manufacturing technology.Sony VAIO VPCS11AFJ Battery

Extrusions are particularly important in this regard, owing to the ease with which aluminium alloys, particularly the Al-Mg-Si series, can be extruded to form complex profiles.

In general, stiffer and lighter designs can be achieved with aluminium alloys than is feasible with steels. For instance, consider the bending of a thin-walled tube:Sony VAIO VPCS11AGJ Battery

the second moment of area is inversely related to the stress in the tube wall, i.e. stresses are lower for larger values. The second moment of area is proportional to the cube of the radius times the wall thickness, thus increasing the radius (and weight) by 26% will lead to a halving of the wall stress.Sony VAIO VPCS11AHJ Battery

For this reason, bicycle frames made of aluminium alloys make use of larger tube diameters than steel or titanium in order to yield the desired stiffness and strength. In automotive engineering, cars made of aluminium alloys employ space frames made of extruded profiles to ensure rigidity. This represents a radical change from the common approach for current steel car design, which depend on the body shells for stiffness, that is a unibody design.Sony VAIO VPCS11AVJ Battery

Aluminium alloys are widely used in automotive engines, particularly in cylinder blocks and crankcases due to the weight savings that are possible. Since aluminium alloys are susceptible to warping at elevated temperatures, the cooling system of such engines is critical.Sony VAIO VPCS11J7E/B Battery

Manufacturing techniques and metallurgical advancements have also been instrumental for the successful application in automotive engines. In the 1960s, the aluminium cylinder heads and crankcase of the Corvair earned a reputation for failure and stripping of threads, which is not seen in current aluminium cylinder heads.Sony VAIO VPCS11M1E/W Battery

An important structural limitation of aluminium alloys is their lower fatigue strength compared to steel. In controlled laboratory conditions, steels display afatigue limit, which is the stress amplitude below which no failures occur - the metal does not continue to weaken with extended stress cycles. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E Battery

Aluminum alloys do not have this lower fatigue limit and will continue to weaken with continued stress cycles. Aluminium alloys are therefore sparsely used in parts that require high fatigue strength in the high cycle regime (more than 107 stress cycles).Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B Battery

Heat sensitivity considerations

Often, the metal's sensitivity to heat must also be considered. Even a relatively routine workshop procedure involving heating is complicated by the fact that aluminium, unlike steel, will melt without first glowing red. Forming operations where a blow torch is used therefore require some expertise, because no visual signs reveal how close the material is to melting.Sony VAIO VPCS11X9E/B Battery

Aluminium also is subject to internal stresses and strains when it is overheated; the tendency of the metal to creep under these stresses tends to result in delayed distortions. For example, the warping or cracking of overheated aluminium automobile cylinder heads is commonly observed, sometimes years later, Sony VAIO VPCS123FGB Battery

as is the tendency of welded aluminium bicycle frames to gradually twist out of alignment from the stresses of the welding process. Thus, the aerospace industry avoids heat altogether by joining parts with adhesives or mechanical fasteners. Adhesive bonding was used in some bicycle frames in the 1970s, with unfortunate results when the aluminium tubing corroded slightly, loosening the adhesive and collapsing the frame.Sony VAIO VPCS125EC Battery

Stresses in overheated aluminium can be relieved by heat-treating the parts in an oven and gradually cooling it—in effect annealing the stresses. Yet these parts may still become distorted, so that heat-treating of welded bicycle frames, for instance, can result in a significant fraction becoming misaligned. Sony VAIO VPCS128EC Battery

If the misalignment is not too severe, the cooled parts may be bent into alignment. Of course, if the frame is properly designed for rigidity (see above), that bending will require enormous force.

Aluminium's intolerance to high temperatures has not precluded its use in rocketry; even for use in constructing combustion chambers where gases can reach 3500 K.Sony VAIO VPCS129GC Battery

The Agena upper stage engine used a regeneratively cooled aluminium design for some parts of the nozzle, including the thermally critical throat region; in fact the extremely high thermal conductivity of aluminium prevented the throat from reaching the melting point even under massive heat flux, resulting in a reliable lightweight component.Sony VAIO VPCS12C7E/B Battery

Household wiring

Because of its high conductivity and relatively low price compared with copper in the 1960s, aluminium was introduced at that time for household electrical wiring in North America, even though many fixtures had not been designed to accept aluminium wire. But the new use brought some problems:Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B Battery

• The greater coefficient of thermal expansion of aluminium causes the wire to expand and contract relative to the dissimilar metal screw connection, eventually loosening the connection.
• Pure aluminium has a tendency to "creep" under steady sustained pressure (to a greater degree as the temperature rises), again loosening the connection.Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B Battery
• Galvanic corrosion from the dissimilar metals increases the electrical resistance of the connection.

All of this resulted in overheated and loose connections, and this in turn resulted in some fires. Sony VAIO VPCW111XX/P Battery

Builders then became wary of using the wire, and many jurisdictions outlawed its use in very small sizes, in new construction. Yet newer fixtures eventually were introduced with connections designed to avoid loosening and overheating. At first they were marked "Al/Cu", but they now bear a "CO/ALR" coding.Sony VAIO VPCW111XX/PC Battery

Another way to forestall the heating problem is to crimp the aluminium wire to a short "pigtail" of copper wire. A properly done high-pressure crimp by the proper tool is tight enough to reduce any thermal expansion of the aluminium. Today, new alloys, designs, and methods are used for aluminium wiring in combination with aluminium terminations.Sony VAIO VPCW111XX/T Battery

Alloy designations

Wrought and cast aluminium alloys use different identification systems. Wrought aluminium is identified with a four digit number which identifies the alloying elements.

Cast aluminium alloys use a four to five digit number with a decimal point. The digit in the hundreds place indicates the alloying elements, while the digit after the decimal point indicates the form (cast shape or ingot).Sony VAIO VPCW111XX/W Battery

The Aluminum Association is a trade association for the aluminum production, fabrication and recycling industries, and their suppliers.[1] The Association is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization based in Arlington, Virginia, United States. (The Association was based in Washington, D.C. until c. 2005 )Sony VAIO VPCW111XXP Battery

Pursuant to seven ANSI H35 standards, The Aluminum Association registers and publishes specifications describing the composition, mechanical properties and nomenclature of aluminum alloys in the United States.[6] These alloys are identified by the abbreviation "AA", for example AA 6061-T6.Sony VAIO VPCW111XXT Battery

Mission, vision, and goals

The Aluminum Association works globally to promote aluminum as the most sustainable and recyclable automotive, packaging, and construction material in today’s market. The Association provides leadership to the industry through its programs and services and assists in achieving the industry's environmental, societal, and economic objectives.Sony VAIO VPCW111XXW Battery

Member companies operate more than 200 plants in the United States, with many conducting business worldwide.

The Aluminum Association provides value to its membership through its leadership and services in aggressively promoting the growth of the aluminum industry globally by:Sony VAIO VPCW115XG Battery

• Continuously strengthening aluminum's position versus competitive materials.
• Developing, maintaining and promoting global standards that achieve customer requirements for aluminum product applications.
• Representing the interests of its membership to the U.S. and international governments.Sony VAIO VPCW115XGP Battery
• Providing research and education to actively address community and employee environmental, health and safety issues.
• Gathering and presenting data, statistics, and other information about the aluminum industry in an accurate and timely manner.Sony VAIO VPCW115XW/P Battery
• Leveraging industry strength by establishing stronger domestic and global alliances.

History

In 1933, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), a New Deal measure requesting each industry to establish codes and guidelines of fair competition.Sony VAIO VPCW115XW/T Battery

Representatives of 13 aluminum companies met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to set up these codes and formed the Association of Manufacturers in the Aluminum Industry. Members of the Association included the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) (Arthur Vining Davis), Reynolds Metals Company (Walter Hunt), and United Smelting & Aluminum (Milton Rosenthal).Sony VAIO VPCW115XW/W Battery

After the Act was repealed in May 1934, these industry leaders convened a special meeting in June, ultimately deciding to continue the Association of Manufacturers in the Aluminum Industry on a reorganized basis.

The Association was reorganized and renamed "The Aluminum Association," and its first official meeting was held in October 1935 in New York.Sony VAIO VPCW117XC/P Battery

The Association defined its purpose as promoting the general welfare of the aluminum industry and its members.

Through the end of the 1930s, the Association would focus on expanding the uses of aluminum. Its first formal program in market expansion was a technical report called, “Corrosion Resistance of Aluminum Cylinder Heads,” which was distributed to engineers, automobile dealers, and repair shops.Sony VAIO VPCW117XC/T Battery

With the onset of World War II, and aluminum's designation as a strategic material, the Association would serve as a central conduit for information relating to aluminum’s use in the war effort—disseminating government material, representing the industry on government boards, and providing statistical information to the industry and the general public.Sony VAIO VPCW117XC/W Battery

During the course of the war, the aluminum industry would design and build 52 new aluminum production and fabrication plants for the U.S. government and add on to 37 existing plants. After the war, the government-owned aluminum plants were offered to bidders under the Surplus Property Act of 1944.Sony VAIO VPCW119XJ Battery

Post-war Growth

The sale of these plants would help create Kaiser Aluminum and expand the operations of Reynolds Aluminum. Both companies joined Alcoa as major primary aluminum producers.Sony VAIO VPCW119XJ/P Battery

After the war, the Association, now with three principal divisions—sheet, extrusion, and foundry—represented 36 companies, including all three primary producersand companies whose output represented 85 percent of the total amount of the nation's aluminum fabricated products.Sony VAIO VPCW119XJ/W Battery

By the late 1940s, the Aluminum Association would recommence fulfilling its original purpose to promote the general welfare of the industry. In doing so, it instituted a number of projects, including:

• Redirecting the efforts of the Publicity Committee, formed during the war, toward publicizing aluminum on behalf of the industry Sony VAIO VPCW11AXJ Battery
• Initiating a program of standardization of aluminum specifications
• Creating the Foil Division
• Forming the Building Industry Committee to effect the change of the material-specified codes to performance codes—and eventually to standardize the codes across the country Sony VAIO VPCW11S1E/P Battery
• Production (in 1959) of the Aluminum Construction Manual, precursor to the current Aluminum Design Manual.

The 1950s were a period of great expansion for the aluminum industry in the building, transportation, household products, electrical, and packaging markets. Thepublic relations program of the time promoted aluminum as “The Modern Metal for Modern Uses.”Sony VAIO VPCW11S1E/T Battery

As the demand for technical data on aluminum grew, the Technical Committee was created. In the mid-50s this committee produced the precursor to the Aluminum Standards and Data.

A promotional symbol—the "Mark of Aluminum"—was developed by the Public Relations Committee in the early 1960s.Sony VAIO VPCW11S1E/W Battery

The marks, which proclaimed aluminum as variously "lightweight," "durable," "versatile," and "rust-free," would appear on thousands of consumer products to proclaim the special attributes of aluminum.

Environmental and Energy Initiatives

The early 1970s saw the rise of the environmental movement.Sony VAIO VPCW121AX Battery

The industry would become heavily involved in establishing the nation's aluminum can recycling infrastructure. The Association also established new committees in energy and recycling.

In 1977, the Association would move its headquarters from New York to Washington, D.C. The Government Relations Committee formed that same year.Sony VAIO VPCW126AG Battery

By the end of the decade, the Association would announce that the aluminum industry had met and surpassed its energy conservation goal almost two years ahead of schedule. The industry had reduced the amount of energy required to make a pound of aluminum by 10.77 percent compared with the base year of 1972.Sony VAIO VPCW127JC/P Battery

As the 20th century came to a close, the Association and its members would take an increasingly active and leading role in pursuing energy efficiency and emissionreductions in our primary operations. The Voluntary Aluminum Industrial Partnership,(VAIP) launched in 1995 between the Environmental Protection Agency and the aluminum industry,Sony VAIO VPCW127JC/T Battery

has since succeeded in achieving dramatic reductions in perfluorocarbon (PFCs) gas emissions. The VAIP represented 18 of the 19 American aluminumsmelters and represented 98% of total aluminum smelting in the U.S. The program reduced PFC emission by 77% over 14 years. In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded its Climate Change Award to the Aluminum Association for this program.Sony VAIO VPCW127JC/W Battery

The Aluminum Association today carries out its role in promoting aluminum via a diverse set of activities: developing technical standards and data, collecting and publishing industry statistics, promoting plant safety and health, and monitoring and promoting technological developments that advance the metal's use across a range of applications.Sony VAIO VPCW127JC/WZ Battery

Standards

United States' aluminum industry standards, which are voluntary, have been developed and continue to evolve to meet the need for a communication system to facilitate aluminum commerce.Sony VAIO VPCW12AAJ Battery

The structure for this communication system is defined by a group of six H35.x American National Standards, which include the authorization for The Aluminum Association to administer the registration of chemical composition limits and mechanical properties of cast and wrought aluminum alloys, with the accompanying assignment of alloy and temper designations.Sony VAIO VPCW12AKJ Battery

The ANS H35 standards are developed under approval by the Accredited Standards Committee H35 - Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys, which is an ANSI accredited standards committee. Aluminum Association (AA) standards are promulgated by the Technical Committee on Product Standards.Sony VAIO VPCW12AVJ Battery

In addition to registering alloy compositions and designations, the TCPS also registers alloy-temper product standards. Most industry product standards for aluminum mill products are published in Aluminum Standards and Data, available in both customary and metric editions. Sony VAIO VPCW12S1E/P Battery

Similarly, the Association publishes the Standards for Aluminum Sand and Permanent Mold Castings, which provides engineering and metallurgical standards for casting alloys in metric and U.S. units of measurements.

Aluminum Association designations and product standards information are used throughout all facets of aluminum commerce, as well as in other organizations’ codes and standards.Sony VAIO VPCW12S1E/T Battery

Aluminum alloy and temper designations, chemical composition limits and registered properties in North America all originate from the above system of ANSI and AA standards. These standards are also the basis for several international agreements for the worldwide producer registration of wrought alloys, unalloyed aluminum, and aluminum hardeners (aluminum alloy materials and grain refiners).Sony VAIO VPCW12S1E/W Battery

Public Policy

• Climate Change
  • The aluminum industry recognizes that climate change presents a challenge that requires cooperative action on a global basis, and promotes international participation.
  • Climate policies should recognize the benefits of recycling toward GHG emissions reduction. Sony VAIO VPCW213AG/L Battery
  • After the initial energy investment in primary aluminum production, the recycling of aluminum saves 95 percent of energy and greenhouse gas emissions. The industry’s complementary primary and reclamation system thereby reduces the overall energy consumption in total U.S. aluminum production by approximately 46 percent, and reduces GHGs by approximately 38 percent. Sony VAIO VPCW213AG/P Battery
  • The industry sees opportunity for further reduction and supports policy that provides incentives for recycling.
  • The industry supports efficient and economically sound emissions trading programs and registries that recognize early emissions reductions. Sony VAIO VPCW213AG/T Battery
  • It supports an economy-wide, fair-market-driven approach that may include a cap and trade program that limits GHG emissions. The approach should result in market incentives that stimulate investment and innovation in technologies necessary to grow while achieving environmental reduction targets.Sony VAIO VPCW213AG/W Battery
  • To reduce potential negative impacts on the U.S. manufacturing sector, which by 2005 had already reduced total GHG emissions below 1990 levels, provision should be made in any GHG program to reduce the expected negative impacts of energy cost increases such as through corporate tax credits.Sony VAIO VPCW215AG/L Battery
  • The industry participates in and recommends public/private partnerships to spur pre-competitive research to reduce greenhouse gas process emissions and to promote energy saving aluminum product applications.Sony VAIO VPCW217JC Battery
  • The industry supports a responsible approach to growth in demand for its products and the consequent growth in activity and related emissions, noting that solutions to the climate change issue involve both reducing emissions at the source, and also over the full life cycle of the material or products.Sony VAIO VPCW217JC/L Battery
• Energy Policy
  • Energy represents about one-third of the total production cost of primary aluminum. Electricity is an essential ingredient in primary aluminum production. These factors together make energy efficiency and energy management prime objectives for the industry.Sony VAIO VPCW217JC/P Battery
  • While the industry is a large consumer of both natural gas and electricity, the annual expenditure for electricity by the aluminum industry is more than $2 billion.
  • Since the 1970s, manufacturing energy consumption has grown at twice the rate of domestic energy production. Sony VAIO VPCW217JC/T Battery
  • This gap between energy use and production will continue to adversely affect manufacturing if the country does not resolve national energy policy with a comprehensive U.S. energy strategy that enhances supply, improves infrastructure, and increases efficiency, without compromising environmental safeguards or imposing efficiency mandates.Sony VAIO VPCW217JC/W Battery
  • The Aluminum Association supports the principles of electricity consumer choice and open access transmission, applied uniformly in the U.S. through a national system. However the industry does not support proposals for total federal pre-emption in all areas related to deregulation and restructuring. Sony VAIO VPCW218JC Battery
  • The Aluminum Association supports the establishment of a system that recognizes some inherent regional advantages in the cost of electricity. Consumer-choice legislation should not be tied to excessive taxing of electricity consumers to fund public benefits or a national mandatory Standard Market Design.Sony VAIO VPCW218JC/L Battery
  • With artificial-market disadvantages, it may be impossible to operate or restore primary smelting capacity in the Northwest U.S., and other regional aluminum plants will be subject to similar concerns. The recommended approach is to provide short-term policies to help the industry survive the transition to a rational market situation, and provide long-term policies to restore supply-demand balance in electricity markets.Sony VAIO VPCW218JC/P Battery
  • Certainty of an affordable energy supply is essential to capital investment in the manufacturing sectors that provide high-paying jobs. Putting the U.S. on the path to a reliable and affordable supply of domestic energy is essential to this country's short-term economic rebound and future long-term growth prospects. All supply options should be considered to contribute to a diverse and robust supply of energy Sony VAIO VPCW218JC/T Battery
• Trade Position
  • The members of the Aluminum Association are fully committed to a fair and open world market for aluminum.
  • The Aluminum Association strongly supports the initiation of global trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO).Sony VAIO VPCW218JC/W Battery
  • The Association supports a comprehensive approach to the phased-in reduction and elimination of tariffs over a multi-year period, not to exceed 10 years.
  • The free flow of aluminum products on a global scale is vital to the future success of the U.S. aluminum industry.
• Partnership With Department of Energy (DOE) Sony VAIO VPCW219AJ/L Battery
  • The Aluminum Association and the United States Department of Energy partner to develop the aluminum technologies needed to achieve the industry's long-term economic, energy and environmental goals.
  • Aluminum is one of the United States Department of Energy's nine designated industries of the future.Sony VAIO VPCW219AJ/P Battery

Lifecycle Considerations

The U.S. aluminum industry strives to maximize energy efficiency and minimize emissions from its upstream and downstream plant operations.Sony VAIO VPCW219AJ/W Battery

• According to the International Aluminium Institute, the average energy consumption per ton of aluminum production has fallen worldwide by 70 percent over the past century. A century ago, primary smelters took roughly 28,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) to produce a metric ton of aluminum from alumina. Sony VAIO VPCW21AAJ Battery
• Today’s state-of-the-art smelters use 13,000 kWh to produce the same amount of aluminum.
• Since 1995, U.S. primary aluminum producers have reduced perfluorocarbon emissions over 70 percent under the Voluntary Aluminum Industry Partnership. Sony VAIO VPCW21AKJ Battery
• Partners have achieve reductions by reducing the frequency and duration of anode effects via a mix of management and technological changes, employing the best options on a smelter-by-smelter basis. U.S. aluminum producers have exceeded the DOE’s Climate Vision emission-reduction targets, reducing direct smelting emissions over 25 percent.Sony VAIO VPCW21AVJ Battery

Product Life

Much of aluminum’s contribution to reducing emissions, fuel use, and energy consumption comes during a product’s lifespan, particularly in aluminum’s largest end market: automotive and transportation. Aluminum’s light weight, combined with its durability, can result in dramatic energy and emissions savings.Sony VAIO VPCY115FGS Battery

Studies recently undertaken by the International Aluminium Institute show just how dramatic those savings can be. Among their findings:

• A doubling of the aluminum tonnage in cars worldwide between 2000 and 2010 will curb greenhouse gas emissions by 180 metric tons annually.Sony VAIO VPCY115FX/BI Battery
• The use of one pound of aluminum in place of 1.5 lbs. of steel in a typical bus or truck application reduces greenhouse gas emissions by almost 90 lbs over the lifetime of the bus or truck.
• Use of one pound of aluminum in place of 1.6 lbs. of steel in a typical railway car reduces greenhouse gas emissions by almost 450 lbs. over the railcar’s lifetime.Sony VAIO VPCY115FXBI Battery
• Global use of aluminum in the automotive sector increased from 5.5 billion lbs. in 1991 (source: IAI) to 12 billion pounds in 2006 (source: Ducker Worldwide).
• Assuming that 12 billion lbs. of aluminum is used to replace denser materials, the potential savings in greenhouse gas emissions over the lifetimes of those vehicles would be approximately 240 billion lbs.Sony VAIO VPCY118EC Battery

So great is the potential for emissions savings from aluminum’s use in the automotive and transportation industries that Alcoa, among others, has forecast that the aluminum industry is well on pace to become “greenhouse gas neutral” in the next decade. That is, the global warming impacts of aluminum production will be fully offset by the amount of carbon-dioxide saved by its use in the transportation industry.Sony VAIO VPCY118GX/BI Battery

Aluminum Association Sustainability Initiative

The Aluminum Association's Sustainability Initiative, launched in April 2008, promotes increased recycling, energy-efficient product applications, and increased operating efficiency.

Among the projects that will form the basis of the initiative are:Sony VAIO VPCY119FJ/S Battery

• Expanding the Curbside Value Partnership which the aluminum industry is partnered with the paper, glass, plastic, and steel industries to increase curbside recycling participation and collections. As of January 2011, Curbside Value Partnership became an independent 501(c)3 with a five member Board of Directors and continues to grow.Sony VAIO VPCY11AFJ Battery
• World Aluminum Automotive Sustainability—In partnership with the IAI and the European Aluminium Association, the Aluminum Association will demonstrate that aluminum automotive applications can lead to potential savings of 140 million tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions and energy savings equal to 55 billion liters of crude oil over the lifecycle of such vehicles.Sony VAIO VPCY11AGJ Battery

Sustainable Technologies

Through participation in such partnerships as the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Industrial Technologies Program, the U.S. aluminum industry works to increase energy efficiency and lower emissions associated with the aluminum production process.Sony VAIO VPCY11AHJ Battery

Promising new technologies include:

• Researchers at the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory and NorandaFalconbridge are developing a way to produce aluminum at significantly reduced temperatures. Specifically, researchers are modifying the cell electrolyte to operate at lower temperatures—which could eventually permit the use of an inert anode.Sony VAIO VPCY11AVJ Battery
• The ITP—working with Aleris Inc., among others—has supported the development of a radically new concept for melting aluminum—isothermal melting—that can dramatically improve energy efficiency in melting and other molten metal processes.Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E/S Battery
• Alcoa has launched a carbon capture technology at its Kwinana alumina refinery in Western Australia. The system mixes bauxite residue with carbon-dioxide to lock up large volumes of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.Sony VAIO VPCY11S1E Battery

International Partnerships

The aluminum industry continues to move forward on both the national and international fronts to advance sustainability efforts.

In July 2005, the U.S. entered into an agreement known as the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate—or “AP6”—with Australia, India, China, Japan, and South Korea (Canada has since also joined).Sony VAIO VPCY11V9E/S Battery

Together these countries—and their energy-intensive industries, such as aluminum—are working to develop and deploy more efficient technologies and to meet national pollution-reduction, energy-security, and climate-change concerns.Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/BI Battery

The Aluminum Task Force, co-chaired by the U.S., is developing realistic work plans and identifying aluminum-specific projects that will be carried out to help achieve the partnership’s goals. Among those goals are to realize a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the seven countries by 2050 compared with current projections if no action were taken.Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/G Battery

Recycling

Recycling aluminum saves 95 percent of the energy and 95 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with producing aluminum from ore.

Can Recycling

• Aluminum can recycling is beneficial for individuals, communities, organizations, companies and industries.Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/L Battery
• An early and highly successful sustainability initiative by the aluminum industry was its creation of the aluminum can recycling infrastructure. In response to environmental concerns and rising energy prices in the early 1970s, Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/P Battery
• the industry created a network of drop-off and buy-back centers to prevent used beverage cans from being landfilled—and instead rerouted to facilities that would melt the aluminum, reconstitute it into ingots and send it on to mills that would roll it back into can sheet.Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery
• Since that time, the aluminum can recycling rate has increased from 15 percent to over 50 percent; gross tonnage of aluminum cans collected has increased 35-fold, and the number of cans collected has increased by a factor of over 50.
• Today, the aluminum can is the most recycled beverage container in the United States.Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/P Battery

Environmental Benefits

• Recycling aluminum cans conserves natural resources, landfills, energy, time and money.
• Recycling aluminum consumes 95 percent less energy than does producing aluminum from ore—and that means lower emissions associated with production of the metal.Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/SI Battery
• Recycling of aluminum cans is ultra-efficient: within 60 days, a can is recycled, reprocessed into a new can and is back on store shelves.
• In 2009, nearly 55.5 billion aluminum cans were recycled, for a recycling rate of 57.4 percent, saving the energy equivalent of over 15 million barrels of crude oil, or America’s entire gasoline consumption for one day.Sony VAIO VPCZ110 Battery

Economic Benefits

• Among commonly recycled materials in the consumer waste stream, recycled aluminum alone pays for its own cost of collection - and then some.
• The aluminum can is the most valuable container to recycle. Sony VAIO VPCZ110GB/BI Battery
• Depending on current market price, recycling one ton of aluminum cans typically yields well over $1,000 of revenue, while recycling a ton of steel, glass, plastics, or paper comes nowhere close to covering the average collection cost of $200 per ton.Sony VAIO VPCZ112GD/S Battery
• Each year, the aluminum industry pays out more than $800 million for empty aluminum cans - money that goes toward organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Boy and Girl Scouts of America, and local schools. Money earned from recycling cans helps people help themselves and their communities.Sony VAIO VPCZ112GX/S Battery
• According to the U.S. Recycling Economic Information Study, more than 50,000 recycling and reuse establishments nationwide employ over one million people and generate an annual payroll of $37 billion and gross $236 billion in annual revenue. Aluminum can recycling underpins much of this infrastructure.Sony VAIO VPCZ114GX/S Battery
• Aluminum has a high market value and continues to provide an economic incentive to recycle. When aluminum cans are recycled curbside, they help pay for community services.
• Were it not for the recycling of aluminum beverage cans, most consumer recycling would not be remotely feasible and would probably cease—unless it were to be underwritten by government. Sony VAIO VPCZ115 Battery
• Recycling aluminum thus benefits not only our industry and its consumers, but also the producers and consumers of many competing industries whose recycling efforts ours effectively underwrites.

Community Benefits

• Aluminum can recycling enables charitable organizations and groups to earn funds to further local projects. Sony VAIO VPCZ115FC/B Battery
• The money earned enhances programs, communities and improves the quality of people’s lives. From a local can drive to raise money for school improvements, to a Boy or Girl Scout troop “Cans Into Cash” competition to pay for camp, recycling is used all over the country to help others.Sony VAIO VPCZ115FC/S Battery
• The Aluminum Association's Cans for Caus program supports all organizations in their effort to recycle by providing recycling bins and help in locating nearby recycling centers. Organizations then collect aluminum cans, take them to the drop-off centers, and collect money in return. The collected funds are the property of the organization, which can distribute it as it sees fit.Sony VAIO VPCZ116 Battery

Building/Construction Recycling

• An Aluminum Association survey of aluminum producers in mid-2008 indicated that the total recycled content of domestically produced, flat rolled products for the Building and Construction market was approximately 85%. The survey of the producers also indicated that on average ~60% of the total product content is from post-consumer sources.Sony VAIO VPCZ116GX/S Battery
• While these numbers represent the industry average, higher post-consumer and total recycled content material may be available from individual producers.
• Not only does the aluminum used in the building and construction industry contain a high percentage of both post-consumer and post-industrial recycled content, at the end of its long, useful life, the alumnum is 100% recyclable. Sony VAIO VPCZ117 Battery
• Aluminum building components can be repeatedly recycled back into similar products with no loss of quality.

Automotive Recycling

• Automotive aluminum is infinitely recyclable and uses only 5 percent of the original energy required to put it back into a reusable form.
• Nearly 90 percent of auto aluminum is recovered and recycled.Sony VAIO VPCZ117FC/B Battery
• Automotive aluminum accounts for 5 to 10 percent of scrapped automobiles by weight, but represents 30 to 50 percent of its scrap value.
• Recycling the aluminum currently in use would equal 15 years’ primary output.Sony VAIO VPCZ118 Battery

Aluminium foil is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves, with a thickness less than 0.2 millimetres (8 mils), thinner gauges down to 6 µm (0.2 mils) are also commonly used.In the USA, foils are commonly gauged in mils. Standard household foil is typically 0.022 millimetres (0.9 mils) thick and heavy duty household foil is typically 0.033 millimetres (1 mil).Sony VAIO VPCZ118GC/B Battery

The foil is pliable, and can be readily bent or wrapped around objects. Thin foils are fragile and are sometimes laminated to other materials such as plastics or paper to make them more useful. Aluminium foil supplanted tin foil in the mid 20th century.

Annual production of aluminium foil was approximately 800,000 tonnes (880,000 tons) in Europe[1] and 600,000 tonnes (660,000 tons) in the USA in 2003.Sony VAIO VPCZ118GX/S Battery

Approximately 75% of aluminium foil is used for packaging of foods, cosmetics, and chemical products, and 25% used for industrial applications (e.g. thermal insulation, cables and electronics).

In North America, aluminium foil is known as aluminum foil. It is also sometimes called Reynolds wrap afterReynolds Metals, the leading manufacturer in North America.Sony VAIO VPCZ119 Battery

In the United Kingdom and United States it is, informally, widely called tin foil, for historical reasons. Metallised films are sometimes mistaken for aluminium foil, but are actually polymer films coated with a thin layer of aluminium.

Before aluminium foil

Foil made from a thin leaf of tin was commercially available before its aluminium counterpart. It was marketed commercially from the late nineteenth into the early twentieth century. Sony VAIO VPCZ119FJ/S Battery

The term "tin foil" survives in the English language as a term for the newer aluminium foil. Tin foil is less maleable than aluminium foil and tends to give a slight tin taste to food wrapped in it. Tin foil has been supplanted by aluminium and other materials for wrapping food.

The first audio recordings on phonograph cylinders were made on tin foil.Sony VAIO VPCZ119GC/X Battery

The first aluminium foil

Tin was first replaced by aluminium in 1910, when the first aluminium foil rolling plant, "Dr. Lauber, Neher & Cie." was opened in Emmishofen, Switzerland. The plant, owned by J.G. Neher & Sons, the aluminium manufacturers, started in 1886 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland , at the foot of the Rhine Falls - capturing the falls' energy to produce aluminium.Sony VAIO VPCZ119L Battery

Neher's sons together with Dr. Lauber discovered the endless rolling process and the use of aluminium foil as a protective barrier in December 1907.

The first use of foil in the United States was in 1913 for wrapping Life Savers, candy bars, and gum. Processes evolved over time to include the use of print, colour, lacquer, laminate and the embossing of the aluminium.Sony VAIO VPCZ119R/B Battery

Manufacture

Aluminium foil is produced by rolling sheet ingots cast from molten aluminium, then re-rolling on sheet and foil rolling mills to the desired thickness, or by continuously casting and cold rolling. To maintain a constant thickness in aluminium foil production, beta radiation is passed through the foil to a sensor on the other side. Sony VAIO VPCZ119R/S Battery

If the intensity becomes too high, then the rollers adjust, increasing the thickness. If the intensities become too low and the foil has become too thick, the rollers apply more pressure, causing the foil to be made thinner.

The continuous casting method is much less energy intensive and has become the preferred process.Sony VAIO VPCZ11AFJ Battery

For thicknesses below 0.025 mm (1.0 mil), two layers are usually put together for the final pass and afterwards separated which produces foil with one bright side and one matte side. The two sides in contact with each other are matte and the exterior sides become bright, this is done to reduce tearing, increase production rates, control thickness, and get around the need for a smaller diameter roller.Sony VAIO VPCZ11AGJ Battery

Some lubrication is needed during the rolling stages; otherwise the foil surface can become marked with a herringbone pattern. These lubricants are sprayed on the foil surface before passing through the mill rolls. Kerosene based lubricants are commonly used, although oils approved for food contact must be used for foil intended for food packaging.Sony VAIO VPCZ11AVJ Battery

Aluminium becomes work hardened during the cold rolling process and is annealed for most purposes. The rolls of foil are heated until the degree of softness is reached, which may be up to 340 °C (644 °F) for 12 hours. During this heating, the lubricating oils are burned off leaving a dry surface.Sony VAIO VPCZ11CGX/X Battery

Lubricant oils may not be completely burnt off for hard temper rolls, which can make subsequent coating or printing more difficult.

Properties

Aluminium foils thicker than 25 µm (1.0 mil) are impermeable to oxygen and water. Foils thinner than this become slightly permeable due to minute pinholes caused by the production process.Sony VAIO VPCZ11DGX/SJ Battery

Aluminium foil has a shiny side and a matte side. The shiny side is produced when the aluminium is rolled during the final pass. It is difficult to produce rollers with a gap fine enough to cope with the foil gauge, therefore, for the final pass, two sheets are rolled at the same time, doubling the thickness of the gauge at entry to the rollers. Sony VAIO VPCZ11FHX/XQ Battery

When the sheets are later separated, the inside surface is dull, and the outside surface is shiny. This difference in the finish has led to the perception that favouring a side has an effect when cooking. While many believe that the different properties keep heat out when wrapped with the shiny finish facing out, and keep heat in with the shiny finish facing inwards, Sony VAIO VPCZ11V9R/B Battery

the actual difference is imperceptible without instrumentation. The reflectivity of bright aluminium foil is 88% while dull embossed foil is about 80%.

Packaging

As aluminium foil acts as a complete barrier to light and oxygen (which cause fats to oxidise or become rancid), odours and flavours, moisture, and bacteria, it is used extensively in food and pharmaceutical packaging. Sony VAIO VPCZ11X9E/B Battery

Aluminium foil is used to make long life packs (aseptic packaging) for drinks and dairy products which enables storage without refrigeration. Aluminium foil laminates are also used to package many other oxygen or moisture sensitive foods, and tobacco, in the form of pouches, sachets and tubes, and as tamper evident closures.Sony VAIO VPCZ11Z9E/B Battery

Aluminium foil containers and trays are used to bake pies and to pack takeaway meals, ready snacks and long life pet foods.

Aluminium foil is widely sold into the consumer market, often in rolls of 500 mm (20 in) width and several metres in length.Sony VAIO VPCZ125GX/S Battery

It is used for wrapping food in order to preserve it, for example when storing leftover food in a refrigerator (where it serves the additional purpose of preventing odour exchange), when taking sandwiches on a journey, or when selling some kinds of take-away orfast food. Tex-Mex restaurants in the United States, for example, typically provide take-away burritos wrapped in aluminium foil.Sony VAIO VPCZ127FC Battery

Insulation

Aluminium foil is widely used for thermal insulation (barrier and reflectivity), heat exchangers (heat conduction) and cable liners (barrier and electrical conductivity). Aluminium foil's heat conductive qualities make it a common accessory in hookah smoking:Sony VAIO VPCZ128GC Battery

a sheet of perforated aluminium foil is frequently placed between the coal and the tobacco, allowing the tobacco to be heated without coming into direct contact with the burning coal.

EMF shielding

The typical shielding effectiveness of aluminium foil for a 100 MHz Spectrum is 80 dB per standard mil.Sony VAIO VPCZ12M9E/B Battery

Cooking

Aluminium foil is also used for barbecuing more delicate foods such as mushrooms and vegetables; food is wrapped in foil then placed on the grill, preventing loss of moisture that may result in a less appealing texture.

As is the case with all metallic items, aluminium foil reacts to being microwaved. Sony VAIO VPCZ13M9E/B Battery

This is due to the effect of electric fields of the microwaves causing a build up of charge to form between the sharp points in the aluminium; if enough charge accumulates it will discharge to a different place on the foil, creating a spark (i.e., arcing). The design of modern microwave ovens has been corrected so microwave energy cannot be reflected back into the magnetron, and aluminium packages designed for microwave heating are available. Sony VAIO VPCZ13V9E/X Battery

Art and decoration

Heavier foils made of aluminium are used for art, decoration, and crafts, especially in bright metallic colours. Metallic aluminium, normally silvery in colour, can be made to take on other colours through anodization. Anodizing creates an oxide layer on the aluminium surface that can accept coloured dyes or metallic salts, depending on the process used. Sony VAIO VPCZ13Z9E/X Battery

In this way, aluminium is used to create an inexpensive gold foil that actually contains no gold, and many other bright metallic colours. These foils are sometimes used in distinctive packaging.

Geochemical sampling

Foil is used by organic/petroleum geochemists for protecting rock samples taken from the field and in the lab, where the sample is subject to biomarker analysis.Sony VAIO VPCZZZHJ Battery

While plastic or cloth bags are normally used for a geological sampling exercise, cloth bags are permeable and may allow organic solvents or oils (such as oils imparted from the skin) to taint the sample, and traces of the plastics from plastic bags may also taint the sample. Foil provides a seal to the ingress of organic solvents and does not taint the sample.Sony VAIO VPZ117 Battery

Foil is also used extensively in geochemical laboratories to provide a barrier for the geochemist, and for sample storage.

Polishing steel

Aluminum foil is used to remove rust from steel and polishes steel surfaces by hand by rubbing it with aluminium foil dipped in water. The aluminium foil is softer than steel, and does not scratch the surface.Sony VAIO VPZ118 Battery

Heat is generated by rubbing friction, the aluminium oxidizes to produce aluminium oxide. Aluminium has a higherreduction potential than iron, and therefore leaches oxygen atoms away from any rust on the steel surface. Aluminium oxide is harder than steel, and the microscopic grains of aluminium oxide produced create a fine metal polishing compound that smoothes the steel surface to a bright shine.Sony VAIO VPZ119 Battery

Ribbon microphones

The material used in many ribbon microphones is aluminium leaf or "imitation silver leaf" as it is sometimes called. This is pure aluminium and is around 0.6-2.0 micrometres thick. It is in fact virtually the same material that the BBC used on Coles ribbons, with the exception that they also hand beat the leaf even more. Sony VPCM11M1E/B Battery

They did this by sandwiching the ribbon between toilet paper and beating with a ball peen hammer. This "cold forges" the leaf. Corrugations must also be imparted into the ribbon, Coles used 25 per inch (1 mm cycle), RCA 44BX has 19 per inch (0.7 mm cycle) and is around 50 mm (2.0 in) long. RCA 77 has 13 corrugations per inch (0.5 mm cycle). Sony VPCM11M1E/W Battery

RCA ribbon material is around 1 - 1.5 micrometers (0.00005 inch). The new Nady ribbon plus AEA both clearly advertise the fact they use 2 micrometre aluminium ribbon in their mics.

Environmental issues

The extensive use of aluminium foil has been criticized by environmentalists because of the high resource cost of extracting aluminium, primarily as a result of the large amount of electricity used to process bauxite ore. Sony VPCM12M1E/L Battery

This cost is reduced via recycling, reduced energy requirements during transport due to lighter weight packages, and the fact that many foods that would otherwise perish can be protected over long periods without refrigeration. Sony VPCM12M1E/P Battery

Some aluminium foil products can be recycled at around 5% of the original energy cost,although many aluminium laminates are not recycled due to difficulties in separating the components and low yield of aluminium metal.Sony VPCM12M1E/W Battery,Sony VPCM13M1E/L Battery,Sony VPCM13M1E/P Battery,Sony VPCM13M1E/W Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-Z11MN/B Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-Z11VN/X Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-Z11WN/B Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-Z11XN/B Battery