Description | Overview | History | Aluminium producing countries | Indian aluminium market | Major trading centers
Description
Aluminium is a silver to white colored, highly elastic, ductile element having atomic number 13 in the periodic table. It is a light metal with only 1/3rd density as compared to that of steel. It is as good a conductor of heat and electricity as the metal copper is. Aluminium is known for its feature of being resistant to outside weather, atmospheric gases and liquids. That’s why it is largely used in the cold conditions where it maintains its toughness unlike other metals and gains advantage over the metals carbon-steel and copper etc. Non-toxicity and non-magnetic are some of the other characteristics of this metal.
Aluminium’s abundance in the earth’s crust stands third among other elements. But it is not found in the free state anywhere in the world but in combined form with other materials in the ore form.
Overview
Aluminium is a newly discovered metal as compared to the other metals like copper, silver etc as it was found in the 18th and 19th century only. It is the most eco-friendly metal and is also sound technologically and economically. This fact gives aluminium the second place in the list of the largest consumed metals in the world after steel and it is often termed as a versatile metal. It also has unique and numerous properties such as gas resistant, moisture-vapor resistant, grease and oil resistant, corrosion resistant, reflective, lightweight, recyclable etc that makes it stand out when other metals are compared to it. On behalf of all this, it can be said that this metal is IRREPLACEABLE.
Aluminium is extracted from the aluminium ore, most commonly bauxite that is found in the areas lying in the tropical and the sub tropical belt on earth. Aluminium constitutes 8% of the earth’s crust. Large deposits of bauxite are located in the continents like North America, South America, Africa, Australia and Asia and small deposits in Europe. The world production of aluminium is around 28.9 million tons, China being the largest producer followed by Russia, Canada and United States. As already mentioned that aluminium stands second in the largest consumed metals in the world, it is also true that the world consumption level has also risen significantly in the last few years. The following are the major aluminium consuming countries

  • United States
  • Japan
  • China
  • Germany
  • France