Aluminium - History & Facts- Aluminium comprises about 8% of the Earth's crust making the third most abundant element.
- Aluminium never occurs naturally in it's metallic form.
- It takes 4.5 tonnes of bauxite (Aluminium ore) to produce 1 tonne of Aluminium.
- Most rocks, clays, soil and vegetation contain Aluminium compounds.
- Aluminium salts have been used in dyes and medicines since Ancient Egyptian times.
- Clay pots found in northern Iraq, consisting largely of hydrated silicate of Aluminium, date back to 5300 B.C.
- Metallic Aluminium was first discovered less than 200 years ago.
Although English chemist Sir Humphrey Davy (inventor or the miner's safety lamp) is often credited as the discoverer of Aluminium, a viable smelting method was only found 80 years after his initial experiments with Aluminium oxide. Although there was much curiosity and excitement about Aluminium, both Charles Dickens and Jules Verne wrote about it, no uses existed for it. Markets did not exist and had to be developed from scratch. As the skills needed to successfully fabricate Aluminium were learned by manufacturers, more products reached the markets and from less than 200 tonnes in 1885, world production of Aluminium had climbed to almost 22 million tonnes 100 years later. The bulk of the world's bauxite deposits are found in a wide belt around the equator. More than 120 million tonnes were mined, mainly in open-cast mines, in 1998. Australian mines produced over 44 million tonnes that year. Aluminum's combination of characteristics - lightweight, reflects heat, impermeable, conductive and it does not rust - allow it to be used in a wide variety of applications. 
Photo Courtesy of Eskom | - Specific weight of 2.7g/cm3 is about a third of that of steel.
- Its strength can be adapted by modifying the composition of its alloy
- Naturally generates a protective oxide coating and is highly corrosion resistant.
- Anodizing, powder coating and painting further improve corrosion resistance.
- Excellent heat and electricity conductor. Weight for weight is almost twice as good a conductor as copper.
- Foil (as thin as 0.007mm ) is completely impermeable.
- Non-toxic - ideal packaging material for food and pharmaceuticals.
- Ductility allows for efficient product forming.
- Totally recyclable. Recycling uses one twentieth of the energy used to produce original Aluminium.
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