Aluminum information, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its high purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure, ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included. Aluminum is a silvery-white metal that possesses many desirable characteristics. It is light, nonmagnetic and nonsparking.

It stands second among metals in the scale of malleability, and sixth in ductility. It is extensively used in many industrial applications where a strong, light, easily constructed material is needed. Although it's electrical conductivity is only about 60% that of copper, it is used in electrical transmission lines because of its light weight. Pure aluminum is soft and lacks strength, but alloyed with small amounts of copper , magnesium , silicon , manganese , or other elements impart a variety of useful properties. These alloys are of vital importance in the construction of modern aircraft and rockets. Aluminum, evaporated in a vacuum, forms a highly reflective coating for both visible light and radiant heat. They are used to coat telescope mirrors. Aluminum is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.9999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder.

Aluminum facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left.

Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.

Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Aluminum is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Aluminum is a Block P, Group 13, Period 3 element. The electronic configuration is [Ne] 3s² 3p¹. In its elemental form aluminum's CAS number is 7429-90-5. The aluminum atom has a radius of 143.2.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 200.pm.

All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology advantages. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Aluminum compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.

Aluminum was first synthesized by Hans Christian Oersted in 1825, but its discovery was initially made by an Englishman, Sir Humphrey Davy, who also named the metal for alumina, the mineral from which he was attempting to refine it, in 1812- the year he was knighted.

Aluminum is a silver-white metal, very light in weight (less than three times as dense as water), yet relatively strong. In addition, aluminum is ductile, that is, it can be drawn into wires or pressed into sheets or foil. It is the most abundant metallic element, and the third most abundant of all elements in the Earth’s crust, making up 8% of the crust by weight. Only silicon and oxygen are more plentiful.

Aluminum has numerous applications in the home and industry, and is a familiar metal to nearly everyone.

Name

Aluminum is a reactive metal, and does not occur in the metallic state in nature. Therefore, it was unknown as a separate element until the 1820’s, although its existence was predicted by several scientists who had studied aluminum compounds. It was produced in metallic form independently by the Danish chemist and physicist, Hans Christian Oersted, and the German chemist, Frederich Wohler, in the mid-1820’s.

The name aluminum was derived from alumen, the Latin name for alum (an aluminum sulfate mineral). The metal was called aluminium with the -ium ending being the accepted ending for most elements at this time. This usage persists in most of the world except the United States, where the last i has been dropped from the name.

Aluminum and Bauxite

Because aluminum metal reacts with water and air to form powdery oxides and hydroxides, aluminum metal is never found in nature. Many common minerals, including feldspars, contain aluminum, but extracting the metal from most minerals is very energy-intensive, and therefore expensive.

The main ore of aluminum is bauxite, the source of over 99% of metallic aluminum. Bauxite is the name for a mixture of similar minerals that contain hydrated aluminum oxides. These minerals are gibbsite (Al(OH)₃), diaspore (AlO(OH)), and boehmite (AlO(OH)). Because it is a mixture of minerals, bauxite itself is a rock, not a mineral. Bauxite is reddish-brown, white, tan, and tan-yellow. It is dull to earthy in luster and can look like clay or soil. Bauxite forms when silica in aluminum-bearing rocks (that is, rocks with a high content of the mineral feldspar) is washed away (leached). This weathering process occurs in tropical and subtropical weathering climates.

Alternative sources of aluminum might someday include kaolin clay, oil shales, the mineral anorthosite, and even coal waste. However, as long as bauxite reserves remain plentiful and production costs are low, the technologies to process these alternative sources into alumina or metallic aluminum will likely not progress beyond the experimental stage.

Sources

Australia has huge reserves of bauxite, and produces over 40% of the world’s ore. Brazil, Guinea, and Jamaica are important producers, with lesser production from about 20 other countries. The United States’ production, which was important 100 years ago, is now negligible.

Most bauxite is first processed to make alumina, or aluminum oxide, a white granular material. Sometimes, raw bauxite is shipped overseas for processing to alumina, while in other cases it is processed near the mine. Alumina is lighter than bauxite because the water has been removed, and it flows readily in processing plants, unlike bauxite which has a sticky, muddy consistency. Australia, the United States, and China are the largest producers of alumina. All the U.S. alumina being made is from imported bauxite.
Aluminum metal is refined from alumina, usually in industrialized countries having abundant supplies of cheap hydroelectric power. The refining process is the Hall-Heroult Process, named after Charles Hall of the U.S. and Paul L.T. Heroult of France, who each independently invented the process in 1866. In this process, alumina (aluminum oxide) is dissolved in molten cryolite (cryolite is an aluminum fluoride mineral, Na₃AlF₆). The alumina is then separated into its elements by electrolysis. Though attempts have been
made to replace this process, it is to this day the only method used to isolate aluminum on a commercial scale.

The largest producers of aluminum metal are Russia, China, the United States, and Canada, countries which have abundant hydroelectric power. More than 40 other countries also produce aluminum, including Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, and New Zealand, which are small but mountainous, and have many rivers to provide hydroelectric power. Other areas of the world with access to abundant and cheap electricity, such as the Middle East, are also expanding their metal production capacities.
Recycling of aluminum by melting cans and other products is an important source of metal in many developed countries.

Uses

About 85% of all the bauxite mined worldwide is used to produce alumina for refining into aluminum metal. Another 10% produces alumina which is used in chemical, abrasive, and refractory products. The remaining 5% of bauxite is used to make abrasives, refractory materials, and aluminum compounds.

The lightness, strength, and corrosion resistance of aluminum are important considerations in its application. Metallic aluminum is used in transportation, packaging such as beverage cans, building construction, electrical applications, and other products.
Aluminum, the third most abundant element at the Earth’s surface, is apparently harmless to plant and animal life.

Alternative Sources

Though aluminum is very important in industry and daily-life applications, it can be replaced by other commodities if necessary. For instance, copper can replace aluminum in electrical applications. Paper, plastics and glass make good packaging alternatives. Magnesium, titanium and steel can be used in vehicles and other forms of ground and air transportation.
Unless energy costs should rise steeply, the use of aluminum in most of these applications is not likely to be seriously threatened. Worldwide sources of bauxite are large enough to supply the demand for aluminum for some time to come.

Aluminium is the world’s most abundant metal and is the third most common element comprising 8% of the earth’s crust. Its incredible versatility makes aluminium the most widely used metal after steel, with annual world production around 20 million tonnes.

The versatility stems from a unique combination of properties which combine lightness, strength, durability and corrosion resistance with good thermal and electrical conductivity. A wide range of alloys is available to exploit these properties to the full. Thus aluminium alloys maintain a leading position in terms of material selection by being the most cost effective solution for many industrial and consumer applications.

Aluminium can be easily formed by all the main production processes. It can be extruded into the most complex of shapes allowing screw fixings, snap fit jointing and attractive design features. It can be drawn to achieve the most exacting of tolerances and to specific levels of hardness for the most critical of applications. Then finally it can be hot or cold rolled to provide a multitude of thicknesses and widths from cooking foil to heavy plate.

Aluminium can be surface rolled to give many attractive, decorative and functional patterns. These include popular patterns such as: stucco, checkmate, treadplate and many more.

Aluminium responds well to a variety of finishing methods; painting and anodising are the two most popularly used. Each provides an attractive and highly durable finish. These processes can be applied either as a post manufactured operation or as an integrated part of the semis production process.

Aluminium is available in a range of alloys giving properties suitable for an ever increasing number of applications. All alloys are easily formed, welded and joined.

Major recycling programmes make a significant contribution to the preservation of the environment. Only 5% of the energy required to smelt primary metal is used when recycling, which also avoids the problems of waste disposal and dumping.