Aluminum surrounds your life. It brings your quick food, it’s the hub of your airplane seat, and it’s a critical component in smartphones, cars, and in the space shuttle too. While ubiquitous, there is an interesting past, a strange chemical nature, and an irreversible effect of this metal in shaping modern technology.
These are some intriguing and lesser-known facts by the Aluminum Parts Manufacturer about this wonder metal that will astonish you.
1. Pricier Than Gold
Aluminum is run-of-the-mill nowadays—even disposable. But, in the 19th century, aluminum was pricier than gold. When it was first discovered in the early 1800s, it was rather expensive and wasteful to manufacture. Even Napoleon III of France used aluminum dinner forks and knives for special guests of state and ordinary guests had to settle for gold ones.
The metal itself was not scarce—aluminum is the most common metal in the Earth’s crust. It was exotic due to the difficulty in extracting its aluminum from bauxite ore. Prior to it finding the Hall-Héroult process in 1886 using electrolysis to purify aluminum, it was costly and not so readily available.
2. That it’s infinitely recyclable
Aluminum does not lose its value when it is in the recycling cycle and can therefore be recycled repeatedly without suffering any loss. In the real world, nearly 75% of all aluminum that has ever been recycled is still in use today. This is one of the greatest sustainable materials on earth.
Recycling aluminum conserves up to 95% of the energy needed to produce it from bauxite ore. For this reason, recycled aluminum cans, which have been recycled multiple times, return to the store shelves within 60 days. Disposing of aluminium not only loses metal but also loses money and time and energy down the drain.
3. It is a Critical Material for Aerospace and Space Exploration
Light and strong, corrosion-resistant and versatile, aluminum has been a staple of aeronautical engineering since the Wrights, if only temporarily, used it in their initial airplane engine. Aluminum really took to flight—literally—into space ages. NASA spacecraft and the The International Space Station utilize enormous amounts of aluminum due to advancements in strength-to-weight ratio and withstanding blistering heat.
The aluminum alloys were utilized by the spacecraft astronauts used to travel to the moon. Space and business travel rely on developing light, fuel-efficient, and non-sacrificial-strength aluminum composite technologies.
4. Aluminum Develops a Protective Coating when Exposed to Air
Pure aluminum is a reactive metal but will not rust like iron since it develops an oxide coating that is extremely thin but one that can be seen if left exposed to air for a period of time. The white coating is a protective coating over the metal surface against oxidation or corrosion.
It is this property that aluminum enjoys that it applies externally, such as window frames, building materials, and road signs. Add thickness to the natural oxide layer by anodizing to provide even greater protection against corrosion in order to allow it to endure decades of brutal usage.
5. It’s Non-Magnetic and Non-Sparking
Aluminum is non-magnetic and this is a very great asset with electric applications and where magnetic fields will induce interference in fragile equipment. Aluminum will not spark, i.e., will not produce sparks upon being hit, and thus is especially suitable for equipment in fire- or explosion-hazardous environments like oil refineries or grain elevators.
These features bring aluminum from the sphere of omnipresent cans and foils and into the sphere of industrial insulation and high-tech.
6. It’s Needed to Our Bodies—But Only in Minor Amounts
While not a nutrient we look for, there is endogenously occurring aluminum in the body in trace amounts. Traces are present in food, in water consumed, and even in the air that is breathed. The body does not require aluminum in any biological process, and excess exposure—mainly in occupational exposure or certain medical therapies—will be harmful.
Aluminium has been unjustly blamed for illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease, but on the basis of science everyone shares, everyday low-level exposure to it will hurt nobody. The protest does tell us, however, how far a metal can be blamed for sophisticated biological as well as ethical issues.
7. It is Not Available Purely in Nature
Although the third most abundant element found in the Earth’s crust, no pure aluminum exists anywhere. It is because it easily reacts with oxygen and other elements to form compounds such as bauxite, its primary ore. Pure aluminum is only obtained through a highly sophisticated process of extracting and refining.
This built-in deficit of uncombined aluminum bewildered early researchers, who could not understand how so seemingly ubiquitous an element was so hard to locate. It took until the 19th century for technology to finally catch up with chemistry and discover the secret.
8. Aluminum initiated the new packaging age
Aluminum displaced clunky, heavy, and showy packaging decades before its time. Aluminum revolutionized packaging by introducing a lightweight, flexible, and non-reactive packaging material that was food-safe and liquid-safe.
Developed in the early 20th century, aluminum foil quickly gained popularity as an alternative to tin as a packaging material. And then, in 1959, came the development of the aluminum can for drinks—one of the greatest innovations in all packaging history. Billions of aluminum cans are being manufactured annually now, and it is an inexpensive, recyclable, and clean way of packaging food and drinks.
9. Its Leadership in Renewable Energy
Aluminum is quickly becoming a leader in the transition to clean energy. It is lightweight, and therefore, it is a strong candidate to be utilized to make solar panel frames, wind turbine parts, and electric vehicle parts. Even now it is used in power transmission cables, as it is highly electrically conductive and corrosion-resistant. And because the world is converting to become sustainable, it’s no surprise that the recyclability of aluminum many times—and even how energy-saving it is—makes aluminum a number one green responsibility partner.
Final Thoughts
From its golden conception as a precious metal to its present purpose as the keystone to sustainability and advancement, the history of aluminum is as compelling as the metal itself.
A metal we use so liberally, it yet determines the very tone of our modern world, from the automobile in which we travel to the satellites that orbit about our planet. So when you next find yourself holding an aluminium can or using last night’s dinner as a wrapping foil, take a moment and pay a nod to the wonderful story that clings to this humble ingredient. Glittering but obstinate, omnipresent yet substitutable, aluminium is one of the real hidden champions of the world.
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