Automobile manufacturing has been one of the main uses of aluminum, and about 90% of it that is used to make vehicles has been recycled. An estimated one-third of all aluminum in the US is used for automobiles. Aluminum is much more lightweight than steel and typically is preferable for automobile parts such as wheel rims, radiators, cylinders and pistons. This metal's lighter weight allows vehicles to move more efficiently, using less fuel and emitting less pollution.
More about aluminum:
- Recycling one aluminum can could save enough energy to burn a light for four hours.
- The US had about 17.83 billion pounds (8.1 billion kg) of aluminum in 2009, with a total value of about $40 billion US Dollars (USD). About half of the total supply was made domestically, 30% had been recycled, and the rest had been imported.
- The second most common use of aluminum in the US is in packaging. About one-fifth of this metal is used for items such as beverage cans and foil.
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Discussion Comments
Aluminum is a very wonderful metal because of its many applications. It is an important constituent in the alloy, duralumin, which is used in construction of aircraft fuselage. This is because of its light-weight advantage. It is also used in window frames and mechanical metallurgy of deep drawing to produce cooking pots. This manufacturing technique takes advantage of the ductility of aluminum, which is the ability of a metal to be drawn into fine wires without failure, provided it is still within its elastic region.
Aluminum has more advantages,in food,beverages,medicine,and in packing industries. It is light in weight and a good conductor of heat and electricity. However, its compounds are highly toxic. For example aluminum oxide is a rat and rodent killing poison. Even though the aluminum hydroxide is the best neutralizer, given for acidity in patients, by doctors and physicians, gets deposited in the kidneys of the patients, causing nephritis -- an acute, chronic ailment, which is hardly curable by allopathists.(siddha, ayurvedha system of medicines have the cure).
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