ALUMINIUM

(Processing, Properties and Applications)

METALLIC MATERIALS
PRESENTED BY:

COOPER KOLLIE LACKAY (40447)

MATERIAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

LECTURER : DR. A. R. ADETUNJI

DATE : February 2, 2017

AFRICAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 Outlines
 INTRODUCTION

 PRODUCTION

 PROCESSING

 PROPERTIES

 APPLICATION

 ALUMINIUM AND RECYCLING

 CONCLUSION

1
 INTRODUCTION
Aluminium is an element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic
number 13

Aluminium is so called because it is a base of “alum,” which in turn is derived

from the Latin for “bitter salt.”

Aluminium is the second most plentiful metallic element on earth; an

estimated 8.3% of the earth crust is composed of aluminium.

Aluminium was once considered to be a precious metal, more valuable even

than gold.
It is said that Napoleon III, Emperor of France once gave a banquet where the
most honored guest were given aluminium cutlery, while everyone else had gold
 INTRODUCTION
Formally aluminium was produced for the first time in 1824 and it took people
another fifty years to learn to produce it on an industrial scale.
It is written as Al, has a melting temperature of 660.3 °C and FCC crystal
structure.
The appearance of aluminum ranges from silver to dull grey

THE COLOR OF ALUMINUM RANGE FROM SILVER TO DULL GREY

 Aluminium Production

 Sourced from bauxite ore, the material is refined into aluminium

oxide trihydrate (alumina) using the Bayer process, and then
reduced via a smelting process into metallic aluminium

 Up to four tons of bauxite are needed to produce one ton of

aluminium metal

 Once formed, aluminium is alloyed with other materials, usually

iron, silicon, zinc, copper and magnesium, to create metals with
different properties

 The type of alloy is designated with a serial number

 For example, 1,000 series alloys comprise almost pure aluminium,

while 7,000 series denote a zinc alloy
ALUMINUM PRODUCTION

Bayer process
 Extrusion
PROCESSING OF ALUMINUM

 Casting

 Rolling

 Extrusion: A solid aluminium cylinder called a billet (available in a variety of

alloys, pretreatments and dimensions), is heated and squeezed through a die with a
shaped opening to create a desired profile. Extrusions are widely used in
construction, road and rail applications.

Aluminum bars of different sizes and with varying anchoring options

(Mecalux, S.A 2ooo)
 Processing of Aluminum
 Casting: Using either sand casting or die casting
techniques, the aluminium is shaped according to a mold

Aluminum and copper base alloys are

Aluminum Green Sand Foundry produced in the cold chamber machine
 Processing of Aluminum
 Rolling: Aluminium passes through a hot-rolling mill and is then
transferred to a cold-rolling mill, which can gradually reduce the
thickness of the metal down to as low as 0.05 mm. Rolled products are
categorized as either foil (less than 0.2 mm thick), sheet (0.2-6 mm), or
plate (thicker than 6 mm).

An aluminum fabricator may need to be skilled cutting and welding using

an oxyfuel torch.(Cavallaris, 2002)
 Properties of Aluminum
 Lightness: Its specific weight is 2.7 g/cm3, which is one-third that of
steel.

 Non – toxic

 Good Strength:

 Corrosion-resistance due aluminum oxide formation

 Good Conductivity of heat and electricity

 Highly Ductile

 Highly Reflective

 Impermeable and odorless

 Recyclability 3
 APPLICATIONS

 The application of aluminum are numerous.

 Ranging from aluminum foil for food packaging and easy open aluminum
cans for beverages to the structural members of the aircraft in which we
travel.

14
 Applications of aluminum
 It is used for making electrical wires.

 Aluminum is widely used in food packing and cooking pots.

 It is used in mirrors and other decorative architectural

components

 Aluminum is also used in making windows, doors and roofs of

factories.

 House hold and consumer items such as utensils.

15
 Aluminium And Recycling

 Aluminium can be recycling by which scrap aluminium can be reused in

products after its initial production

 Recycling scrap aluminium requires only 5% of the energy used to make

new aluminium

 It is possible to recycle and resell a discarded aluminium can in just 60

days.

 For this reason, approximately 31% of all aluminium produced in

the United States comes from recycled scrap.

The versatility of aluminium makes it the most widely used metal after
steel.
 Aluminium And Recycling
 Fully recyclable with no downgrading of quality, aluminium is the
most cost-effective material to recycle.

 In fact, 75% of the aluminium produced since its discovery is still

in use today.

 Using aluminium, industries can attain their overall recycling targets.

 In parallel, the aluminium industry is also constantly developing and

refining its recycling processes.

Recycling of Aluminium
 Conclusion
 Aluminum are numerous and diverse, serving very crucial roles in

our daily life

 It is readily available and quite cheap and more of its alloys are

being developed because of its desirable properties.

 It is by nature a metal we cannot do without and researches are

still on going in this field.

19
REFERENCES