🥫Comment on le fabrique

01 Bauxite mine

Ore, often lateritic, crushed and digested.

02 Bayer alumina

NaOH digestion, precipitation, calcination to Al2O3.

03 Hall–Héroult

Reduction cells at ~950 °C in molten cryolite; carbon anodes consume.

04 Casting

Rolling ingots, extrusion billets or foundry remelt.

05 Work + temper

Hot/cold roll or extrude, then T4/T5/T6 ageing as specified.

06 Finish

Anodise, paint, clad, or leave mill-finish for cans.

Primary smelt

Power-hungry; hydro and nuclear regions dominate low-carbon primary.

Remelt scrap

UBC and extrusion scrap take ~5% of primary energy.

Foundry alloys

High-Si castings for engines and e-motor housings.

Clad sheet

Alclad: pure cladding over high-strength core for aero corrosion.

Aluminium process path

Feedstock to installed product.

1. Feed — in
2. Convert — mill
3. Form — shape
4. Finish — coat
5. Install — out
6. Spec — code
7. Scrap loop — rec

Aluminium heat & fire

Energy in, class out.

1. Heat — in
2. Aluminium — mat
3. λ / char — out
4. Ignition — fire
5. Euroclass — class
6. Assembly — sys

Melting in fire

Do not treat aluminium beams like steel in a standard fire curve without analysis.

Galvanic

Stainless fasteners can pit aluminium in electrolytes.

Creep / HAZ

Welded 6000-series needs design factors the mill sheet does not show.