Metalwork - Materials - Aluminium
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| Learn more through these links : | Aluminium
Manufacture Uses of Aluminium Recycling of Aluminium |
Aluminium Ore, most commonly Bauxite,
is very plentiful and is found mainly in tropical areas,
such as Africa, West Indies, South America and
Australia, where it is mined through Open Cast Mining,
which you can see to the left. There are also some
smaller deposits in Europe. Bauxite is converted into Aluminium Oxide
Trihydrate but you can also call it Alumina and then electrolytically converted into Aluminium. Aluminium production facilities are located
all over the world, usually in areas where there are
abundant supplies of inexpensive energy, such as
hydro-electric power.(Below this section you can see a
map of the countries that are involved in the conversion
of Bauxite to Aluminium.)
In Ireland we have a large Alumina plant,
(left). Aughinish Alumina Limited, (Alcan) is located at
Aughinish Island, Askeaton, County Limerick. The plant
sits on 350 acres of the 1,000-acre island in the River
Shannon. About 90% to 95% of the Bauxite is
shipped in from the Alcan mine in Guinea. The
company annually produces about 1.4 million metric tons
of Alumina from about 3 million metric tons of
bauxite ore. You can vist the Aughinish web site at Aughinish
Alumina Limited.
The red countries are involved in the production of Aluminium
Uses of Aluminium
Aluminium is second only to Steel in terms of usefullness in today's society, and it is rapidly catching up. As was stated earlier Aluminium in its pure form is almost useless, but with the advance of alloying technology Aluminium alloys have taken over from many other metals in a wide range of areas. Besides the physical properties of Aluminium, listed at the top of the page, it has other advantages that othere metals do not.
- Aluminium Ore is very plentiful, with no danger of world depletion.
- Can be frozen or oven treated with no loss of properties.
- It has one third the strength of steel but is much, much lighter.
- It can be easily coloured or coated.
- It can have a shiny or matt finish.
- It is easily formed, using less energy than most other metals.
- It is a very good barrier to light, gases, oils and fats, volatile compounds and water vapour, making it a very good container material.
All of the above make Aluminium an excellent
material for the production of the following items,
among others : engine blocks, bottle tops, lining for
cartons, sheet and bars, guttering, ladders, building
materials, furniture, aluminium foil, milk bottle tops,
baking trays, airplanes, pots and pans, vehicle bodies,
window and door frames, electrical wire and cable,
general packaging, etc.
Recycling Of Aluminium
In many peoples eyes the most important fact about Aluminium is that it is completely recycleable, and it has to be said that this is a huge advantage. In today's society where saving the enviornment and the Ozone layer is so important, a metal that can be recycled with no loss of properties is invaluable. There are many recycling bins around Ireland for Aluminium cans. These cans are re-melted and then reused. This process uses less power than converting the Aluminium from Bauxite, so the Ozone layer gains, and because this Aluminium did not have to be mined, the enviornment gains.
