USE OF ALUMINIUM

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 131, 6 June 1939, Page 12

USE OF ALUMINIUM

WORLD-WIDE IMPORTANCE

Aluminium is used so much in modern life that it is difficult to realise that 60 years ago it was almost unknown outside the laboratory. In volume of production it now takes fourth place among the metals of the world. Germany leads in output and, consumption, and at present Great Britain and Canada are the only producing countries in the Empire, states "The Times." Of the world output of 567,000 tons last year, Great Britain and Canada were responsible for 79,000 tons. Big schemes of expansion are now in hand in this country-

The most important qualities of the metal are its lightness and strength. Either in the pure state or in the form of alloys it is used for numerous industrial and domestic purposes, and the list of these grows each year as fresh methods of employment are discovered. Since the war the industry has been developed to such an extent that no country engaged in trade can afford to neglect the metal. Thus the new plant planned or projected in this country is of the first importance. During the war the many qualities of aluminium came to be fully appreciated. In addition to its lightness and strength, its resistance to corrosion and its ready association in alloy form were valuable properties. It may have been used in the first place as a substitute for other metals which were unobtainable, but it soon became an essential material in the manufacture of aircraft, explosives, etc. Now it is employed in generating stations, in road and rail transport, and in civil and military aircraft, to mention but a few of its many applications. Underground railway doors, motor bodies, brewery vats, and barrels, as well as milk and foodstuff containers, are made of it. It has taken the place largely of other metals for wrapping foils. It is found in the kitchen in a dozen and one domestic utensils. In paint, powder, or paste form it has many uses—the paint and paste as a preservative coating, and the powder as an ingredient in the manufacture of explosives and fusing materials.

There seems no end to the possible employment of this versatile element, which owes its name to the Romans, and is the commonest of all metals, but which exists nowhere in a pure state, although it is present in at least an eighth of the earth's crust.