Pure aluminium is a silvery-white metals with very interesting properties: it is light, nontoxic (as metal), nonmagnetic and nonsparking, easily formed, machined, and cast. Pure aluminium is soft and lacks strength, but alloys with small amounts of copper, magnesium, silicon, manganese, and other elements have very useful properties.

The major boost to the purification of the aluminium occurred around 1850, when Robert Bunsen and Deville Henri began to point the electrolytic method. But the industrial production began in early 1900.

Aluminium is an abundant element on earth's crust (8.1%, the third most abundant element), but in nature it is very rare in the wild. It is found primarily as the ore bauxite (see photo), oxide-hydroxide mixture of aluminium in varying amounts (around 25%) according to the mines. The main mining areas are Australia, Guinea, Vietnam, Brazil and Jamaica.

Its main properties are:

• low specific weight,
• high electrical conductivity,
• good resistance to corrosion,
• poor mechanical properties,
• high plasticity,
• low radiant power,
• excellent ductility and malleability.

The aluminium alloys have rather different properties and a wide field of applications. In fact, to improve the mechanical properties are added to aluminium certain quantities of alloying elements. For example, aluminium oxide (Al₂O_3, known as corundum) is the hardest natural substance after diamond.

Aluminium is the metal most used, after iron and its uses invest all the modern economy: transport, power lines, construction, optics, hardware, packaging, consumer durable goods, etc.

The recycling of aluminium is very convenient. To produce a pound of aluminium, starting from the wreckage, just less than 1 kWh, compared to 14 kWh required starting from the ore.

Ancient aluminium symbol used by alchimists

Related articles:

• Aluminium Inventory (6 months)
• Aluminium alloys
• Aluminium alloys
• Aluminium alloys
• Aluminium billets
• Aluminium cans (5 years)
• Aluminium for deoxidation

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