Aluminum: uses,applications-Metalpedia

As aluminum has abundant reserves worldwide and many excellent properties, it is widely used in industry and in daily life.
Determined by its properties, its main applications are as follows.

Aluminum’s density is 2.7g/cm³(one third that of iron and copper), with good ductility, and its electrical conductivity is two thirds that of copper, while its quality is only one third that of copper. In addition, its price is comparatively cheap, so it is widely used in manufacturing high tension bus bars, electric cables and in the radio industry.
Although its density is low, the density and hardness of aluminum alloy are good. Therefore, aluminum alloy has been used widely in manufacturing industry, for instance in planes, buses, trains and ships. What’s more, the space shuttle rockets, as well as satellites, have also been made using large amounts of aluminum and aluminum alloy.

Aluminum is a good conductor of heat (its heat conductivity is three times greater than iron’s), and many different kinds of heat exchanger, heat sink materials and cookers in industry are made of aluminum.

Aluminum has good ductility (ranking behind only gold and silver), and it can be made into aluminum foil (thinner than 0.01mm) when temperatures are between 100 ℃～150 ℃, which means it is widely used in packaging (everything from cigarettes to candy and beverage cans). Also, aluminum foil can be rolled to become aluminum wire and strips, as well as other aluminum products.

Corrosion resistance can be excellent owing to a thin surface layer of aluminum oxide that forms when the metal is exposed to air. Therefore, aluminum is always used in manufacturing chemical reactors, medical equipment, refrigeration equipment, petroleum refining units, oil and gas pipelines etc.

Thermit is commonly used to melt refractory metals and welded rails.
Aluminum is used as a deoxidizer in the steelmaking process.
When aluminum powder is mixed with graphite and titanium dioxide (or other high melting point metal oxides) in the correct ratios, and the mixture is then coated onto metal, followed by high temperature calcination, the result is a high-temperature metal ceramic which plays an important role in rocket and missile technology applications.

Aluminum combustion in oxygen gives off a lot of heat and glare, so it is often used in manufacturing explosives mixtures, such as ammonium aluminum explosive (a mix of ammonium nitrate, charcoal powder, aluminum powder, carbon black and other combustible mixtures of organic matter), burning mixture (such as bombs and shells ' made of thermit ' that can be used to attack difficult targets or tanks, artillery, etc.) and lighting mixture (for instance, containing 68% barium nitrate, aluminum powder and shellac, 28% to 4%).

Aluminum powder has a beautiful, silver luster (generally metallic powders are black), so it is commonly used for coating and known as silver or silver paint, in order to protect iron products from being corroded.

When aluminum is at low temperatures, instead of being brittle, its intensity increases without brittleness, so it is the ideal material for use in devices at low temperatures, such as cold storage, freezers, Antarctic snow vehicles and oxidation of hydrogen production units.

Aluminum sheet’s reflective performance is excellent (better than silver at reflecting ultraviolet light). And the higher the aluminum purity, the better its reflectiveness, so it is commonly used in manufacturing high quality mirror, such as solar cooker reflectors.

Some food additives also contain metal aluminum, such as alum, raising agents and leavening agents. In some fried dough sticks, steamed buns, silk noodles and some puffed food (potato chips) such additives are also used.

Aluminum has excellent sound-absorbing performance, so the ceilings of broadcasting studios and modern large-scale indoor constructions tend to make use of aluminum.
In the home, due to its sound absorbing effect, door and window frames are always made of aluminum alloy.

As aluminum stores are abundant in the Earth’s crust, and it has certain advantages compared to other metals, it will continue to be used widely in the future. For instance, manufacturers are discussing using more aluminum alloy to replace steel in order to make cars lighter. As technology advances, so aluminum alloy products will rapidly find applications in new areas beyond the traditional fields of aerospace, transportation, electronics, electricity and construction.