History of Aluminum Essay

Aluminum as a metal came to its existence all 200 years ago. However, Dmitry Eskin noted that almost 2000 years ago, Pleny the Elder mentions a strange, light, and silvery metal in his Historia Naturalis which might indicate that atomic number 13 may restrain been discovered accidentally and then forgotten (Eskin 2008, p. 1). Citing the work of Pleny the Elder, Eskin puts it One day a gold smith in Rome was al first-class honours degreeed to show the Emperor Tiberius a dinner plate of a new metal. The plate was very light, and almost as bright as silver.The goldsmith told the Emperor that he had made the metal from plain clay. He also assured the Emperor that only he, himself, and the gods knew how to produce these metal from clay. The emperor felt immediately, however, that all his treasures of gold and silver would decline in value if people started to produce this bright metal of clay. Therefore, instead of giving the goldsmith the regard expected, he ordered him to be beheade d (p. 1).The existence of this materialization metal was established by an Englishman H.Davy in 1808 which he titleed aluminium, exactly this name was later changed to Aluminum (USA). Thus, both aluminium (U. K. ) and aluminum continues to be use to call this metal. Nevertheless, it was not until 1825 that virgin aluminum was extracted by the Dane N. C. Oerested, though actually, he was only able to produce tiny amounts.Eskin purported out that between 1827 and 1845, the German F. Wohler developed the starting process to produce aluminum powder by reacting potassium with anhydrous aluminum chloride (p. ). It was also Wohler who determined some physical properties of aluminum such as its density which according to Eskin, appeared to be the most remarkable characteristic of the new metal (p. 1). Citing the description of Jules Verne about this newly discovered metal in his From the ground to the Moon in 1865, Verne wrote This valuable metal possesses the whiteness of silver, th e indestructibility of gold, the tenacity of put right, the fusibility of copper, the lightness of glass.It is easily wrought, is very widely distri preciselyed, forming the base of most rocks, is three times spark than iron, and seems to have been created for the purpose of furnishing us with the material for our projectile (p. 2) By 1854, a French chemist by the name of Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville improved the method used by Wohler which facilitated the aluminum commercial production that resulted to the dropping of price from approximately $1200 per kilogram in 1852 to just about forty dollars per kilogram in 1859.But aluminums price remained costly for voluminous use. Not long when Charles Martin Hall discovered an inexpensive method for the aluminum production. Mary Bellis noted that extracting pure aluminum was not easy as it is never found free in nature. This difficulty made aluminum a precious metal during this period, but with Martin halls invention of aluminum p rocessor which was patented in 1888 had made aluminum processing easy that brought aluminum price down to an evening lower at eighteen cents a pound (Bellis, Mary).According to the American society for metals, aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earths crust (ASM, ASM International Handbook Committee 1990, p. 35) was a development of this century. It derives its name from the Latin alumen meaning bitterness. The ASM International stated that aluminum was first exhibited in 1855, but it was difficult to obtain during this period that it was more expensive than gold. During this time, companies producing aluminum had difficulty attracting buyers due to its high cost at $2 a pound.It was only after one manufacturer discovered, it made good, inexpensive tea kettles that the price declined at cents a pound, and by the 1900 it was down to 32 cents per pound (p. 35). Production of aluminum however, was low until World War II, but in 1963, the aluminum industry which was undreamed o f during the 1900, employed 35, 970 people in 951 plants with payroll of $221, 567,000. Thus in the first heptad months of 1968 alone, more than 412,000 Mg (450 tons) of aluminum were cast in the United States. John Gilbert Kaufman and Elwin L.Rooy pointed out that the first primary(prenominal) market for aluminum were the castings following the commercialization of the Hall-Heroult electrolytic reduction process (p. 1). Kaufman and Rooy stressed that at first application were merely limited to curiosities such as house numbers, hand mirrors, combs, brushes, tie clamps, and ornamental lamp housings that emphasized the light weight, silvery finish, and novelty of the new metal (p. 1).Furthermore, Kaufman and Rooy cited that cast aluminum cookware was invented and was a welcome alternative to cast iron and brass pots, pans, and kettles (p. ). As the production of aluminum increases, its cost steadily declined, and by the end of the 19th century, important engineering application be came economically viable (p. 1). From this point onward, the use of aluminum in some industry features prominently. Kaufman and Rooy stated that the use of aluminum played important role electrification. Aluminum was well suited to the electrification choose of a low-density, corrosion resistant, and high-conductivity wire and cable.Aluminum was also suited to transmission towers and cast installation hardware, and was also in demand to automotive pioneers who sought modern materials and product forms to differentiate the performance and appearance of their products (Kaufman & Rooy, p. 1). More importantly, Kaufman and Rooy noted that when the Wright Brothers succeeded in powerful flight, engine and other parts in cast aluminum stand for the beginning of a close collaboration with what would beget the aviation industry (p. 1).The earliest design rules for aluminum structures according to Randolph Kissell and Robert L.Ferry were developed at Alcoa round 1930 and were used to des ign the aluminum deck and floor beams installed on the Smithfield street Bridge in Pittsburg in 1933 (Ferry 2002, p. 217). After the publication of the American Society of accomplished Engineers of an article entitled Specification for Structures of a Moderate Strength Aluminum Alloy of High Resistance to Corrosion in 1952 and similar other publications in 1956, major aluminum producers led by Alcoa as the number aluminum producer, followed by Reynolds and Kaiser began to developed structural design books for their product (Kissel & Ferry, p. 17).From this point on, aluminum has become important components of the construction manual series which included the following Section 1 Specifications for aluminum structures role 1A Commentary on Specifications for Aluminum Structure section 2 Illustrative Examples of Designs Section 3 Engineering Data for Aluminum Structures and, section 5 Specification for Aluminum Sheet Metal Work in Building Construction (p. 18). From its humble beginn ings, the use of aluminum has evolve from simple curiosities such as house numbers, combs, pins, and other small items made from aluminum, to become an important material in almost business industries from automotive to aero space industry, to construction industry. Below is a classification table for aluminum which characterizes its description and its properties.