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ALUMINIUM
Metal. Light, strong, conductive, and it won't rust. And it doesn't cost a fortune. Aluminium is good for making cars, saucepans, aeroplanes, kitchen foil, roofs, fizzy drink cans, ladders, frying pans, boats, telescope mounts, and oodles of other stuff. Aluminium is recyclable and is a natural resource, but it will never run out (because the earth's crust is to some extent made of it).
It's not expensive, but it used to be. Napoleon had his best cutlery made of it, Napoleon's second-best cutlery being gold.
Aluminium can be moulded into casts, worked with machine tools, made into sheet metal, and can be rolled into very thin sheet metal thinner than paper, which can be used, and then recycled by such worthy organisations as Guide Dogs for the Blind
Here's a list of international aluminium contacts...
European Aluminium Association
Council for Aluminium in Building - was http://www.c-a-b.org.uk/public/alumin.htm
Aluminium at Talis (was http://www.talis.com.au/i/aluminium.htm ?)
International Aluminium Institute
Aluminium Centrum .nl (was http://www.aluminium-info.nl/)
History of Aluminium at EAA.net (was http://www.aluminium.org/pages/material/material.html)
Association de l'aluminium du Canada
European Aluminium Foil Association
Hydro Alumium (was http://www.aluminium-extruk.hydro.com ?)
www.sistemaluminyum.com.tr of Istanbul
To add to here, for example to enlighten me on some good URLs, or to promote your own company if you're in to Aluminium business, e-mail
Aluminium, Aluminum, Alumium...
Incidentally, it's also known as "Aluminum" as well as "Aluminium", but was originally named "Alumium" by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1808
Other facts: Density 2.7 , Melting point 660oC
Why doesn't aluminium rust? Because the oxide of aluminium that forms when it oxidises in air is the same size as the aluminium metal and so forms a protective layer. In contrast, iron when it oxidises suffers from the fact that the iron oxide produced is much bigger than the iron and forms a destructive RUST!
What is aluminium made of? It's just made of aluminium atoms. It's a pure element as seen in the periodic table of atoms. Even though you sometimes hear scrap metal dealers refer to it as "ally" or "alloy" this is a colloquialism rather than a fact. The idea probably originated as aluminium metal is funny lightweight stuff which couldn't be categorised by scrapmen as "heavy iron", cast iron, "light iron", copper, or lead. Although it's true that there are some alloys based on aluminium, such as "Dural" etc, the basic aluminium metal is just aluminium. Similar misconceptions used to exist about some other metals and can still be seen in their names, for example "platinum" means "little silver" and "nickel" derives from terms meaning "devil's copper". Alloy Wheels are snazzy car accessories and can be made from a variety of light strong mixtures of metals.
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