What is Aluminum and What is It Used for Industry?

Ⅰ. The natural properties and applications of Al(aluminum)

Aluminum is a light metal, and its compounds are widely distributed in nature. The resource reserves of aluminum metal in the earth's crust are second only to oxygen and silicon, ranking third. Among all metals, its output is second only to steel, which is the second largest category of metals. Aluminum has special chemical and physical properties. It is not only light in weight and strong in texture, but also has good ductility, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, heat resistance and nuclear radiation resistance. It is an important basic raw material for the development of the national economy.

Aluminum has good plasticity and ductility, which is convenient for various cold and hot pressure processing. It can be made into thin aluminum foil with a thickness of only 0.006 mm or cold drawn into extremely thin aluminum wire. By adding other elements, aluminum can be made into an alloy to harden it, and its strength can even exceed that of structural steel, but it still has the advantage of light weight.

Ⅱ. The applications of Al (aluminum) in different industries

In the past 50 years, aluminum has become one of the most widely used metals in the world, especially in the construction industry, transportation industry and packaging industry, the consumption of aluminum metal is quite high.

1. The application of aluminum in the construction industry

Due to the stability of aluminum in the air and the excellent appearance after anodizing, aluminum metal is more and more widely used in the construction industry, especially in aluminum alloy doors and windows, aluminum plastic pipes, decorative panels, aluminum curtain walls, etc.

2. The application of aluminum in transportation

In order to reduce the weight of vehicles, motorcycles, various automobiles, trains, subways, airplanes, ships and other transportation vehicles have begun to use aluminum and aluminum alloys as components and decorations in large quantities.

With the continuous improvement of the hardness and strength of aluminum alloy processed materials, its proportion used in the aerospace field has begun to increase year by year.

3. The application of aluminum in the packaging industry

In the packaging industry, the range of thin aluminum foils for flexible packaging, all-aluminum cans, bottle caps and medicinal packaging, others that use aluminum metal are also expanding. In other consumer fields, the usage and prospects of aluminum for electronic appliances, household appliances, and daily-use hardware are becoming bigger and bigger.