Aluminium: Properties and Uses

A common household and industrial metal, aluminium is a highly versatile and cost-effective material.

What is it exactly?

The compound aluminum is produced from Bauxite, which is a formless clayey rock mainly found in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the globe, such as Australia, Jamaica, Brazil, India, Surinam, and Guinea. Alumina, otherwise known as A1203, or Aluminium Oxide, is produced from extracted ore which resembles a floury white sand. In order to extract alumina from Bauxite (which consist of earth silicon, titanium dioxide, ferrous oxide, as well as the 40-60% alumina), the ore needs to be heated with caustic soda in an autoclave. When cooled, a red mud like solid residue is separated from its liquid and the Aluminium hydroxide is extracted. Is your head hurting yet?!  The final production stage is the reduction of aluminium through the "Hall-Heroult" process. It is a process which dissolves alumina in a molten cryolite (sodium hexafluoroaluminate) salt bath and electrolyzing to obtain pure aluminium metal. Ok, you can take a breath now!

What is it used for?

Many things. Being such a diverse metal, aluminium can be used in many ways. Common usage includes packaging such as food and drink cans, transportation and industrial parts, and for electronic products and components.

Everyday packaging usage includes foil wrappings, drink cans, bottle tops, and foil boxes and containers.

In a more rigid form, it is used for transportation parts such as auto parts, motorcycles, and airplane parts. In the building and construction industry, peak machining and vespel machining creates parts such as roofing, siding, gutters and window frames. Other uses include electric products such as power and phone lines, and light bulbs. Aluminium is also a used in the production of kitchen utensils.

Positives

Aluminium is a cheap and economical material to use, and can be easily recycled with a relatively low impact on the environment. Simply re-melting the metal produces new material, and recycling aluminium scrap requires only 5% of the energy used to create new aluminium.

Downsides

Being a widely used everyday product, injury from aluminium is quite common. Its surprisingly sharp when used for products such as cans, and once opened can potentially cause deep gashes. It is important to dispose of cans and other sharp aluminium products with this in mind. Cans are known to cut through plastic waste liners which poses a hazard to anyone collecting the bag. Cans also attract animals who are interested in any interesting smelling left-over food and the serrated edges can cause a lot of damage and pain to curious pets and hungry wildlife.

Aluminium has also been linked to health issues due it containing a toxic compound known as BPA. BPA can leach into our foods via the aluminium in cans, and the aluminium in cooking utensils such as pots and pans (this can be counteracted though by using a product created via Teflon machining, which involves coating the aluminium with a Teflon non-stick surface, minimizes leaching). BPA toxin is hypothesized as being linked to illnesses such as cancer, infertility, miscarriages, Alzheimer's disease, and insulin resistance.

With its cheap production and recycling costs, and versatility, it is likely we will see aluminium usage in our homes and industries for many years to come.

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