Getting a clean, smooth finish while removing material quickly is not always easy when machining high-strength aluminium alloys. A new study on AA7075-T6 aluminium alloy has explored this challenge, identifying two different sets of drilling conditions to improve surface quality and maximise machining productivity. The research examined how cutting speed, feed rate and drill depth influence conventional drilling performance. Using response surface methodology and a central composite design, the researchers developed predictive models to determine how changes in these parameters affect the machining process. The models showed a strong level of accuracy, with coefficients of determination (R²) reaching 0.9731 for surface roughness and 0.9359 for material removal rate. Further confirmation...
Cleaner aluminium depends on three things going right at once: scrap collection, melting it in a furnace without much carbon, and the electricity behind the whole chain not being coal-powered. Developments across North America, the UK, the European Union (EU), Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia and India depict how unevenly those pieces are falling into place. While some markets are losing recoverable metal at the sorting line, others are redirecting cargoes or writing scrap into industrial policy, and a few are lining up green projects to hold primary aluminium production together. Aluminium scrap trade: North America leads, Thailand bans, EU retains The international aluminium scrap market is facing a combination of changing trade flows and growing pressure to secure cleaner, more consistent...
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According to the news cited by Shanghai Metals Market, East Hope Group, one of China’s largest private companies, has inked a framework agreement on 15 th August with the government of Zuoquan County, Shanxi Province, to build alumina refinery project in the region. The alumina refinery project will have a total capacity of 2.4 million tonnes. The project will have two production lines each with a capacity of 1.2 million tonnes. East Hope Group will build lime project with a capacity of 800,000-tonne in order to support the alumina project. Mengtai Group also announced that they will build an aluminium project with a total investment of 6.5 billion yuan. The project will have a capacity of one million-tonne. The first phase of the project will have an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes....
Aluminum Trailer Co., which manufactures and sells a variety of all-aluminium cargos and specialty trailers across North America, has commissioned its new factory and headquarters at Nappanee on August 15. ATC would be building its custom and semi-custom all-aluminium car hauler trailers called Quest line at the new plant. Including this, the company now owns three plants in Nappanee. “We have been at the process of creating this space for almost four years now,” said Steve Brenneman, founder and company and its chief executive officer. “We were able to really lay it out based on some years of experience with lean manufacturing and process excellence.” The factory features comfortable facilities for the workers and office employees and provide a large and well-equipped site. The...
Oman's Sohar Aluminium yesterday announced that the company was assessing to resume the production as soon as possible after the interruption at its smelters, according to the news published by Reuters. On August 4, Sohar Aluminium informed about an accident at its plant in Sohar which interrupted normal operations and resulted in no injuries. The accident halted production for six-and-a-half hours. According to the company statement, the accident will have no long-term implications on the operations of Sohar Aluminium. Chief Executive Said Al Masoudi said in a statement, "The company has put together a team of industry experts to assess how quickly metal production can be restarted and a return to full production levels be restored as early as possible." Sohar Aluminium is jointly owned...
Alumina import by Indonesia is set witness a drop in 2017 as domestic production of the mineral is increasing at a steady state. With the country’s state-owned aluminium producer PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) readying to increase its metal output to 500,000 tonnes a year by 2020 from its current production level of 260,000 tonnes, the demand for alumina is projected to rise in the long term. However, Indonesia is focussed on reducing its import dependence for a few industrial commodities, alumina being one of them, to foster growth of the domestic industry. Indonesia imported 72308.5 tonnes of alumina in 2016, up from 37511 tonnes a year ago. In 2017, the total alumina import volume is projected to decrease to 59441 tonnes. The value of alumina import by Indonesia is also...
The Aluminum Association’s “Index of Net New Orders of Aluminum Mill Products” for July decreased 10.3% month on month. Orders for flat roll products (sheet, plate, can stock and foil) dropped 10.1% month-on –month. On an YTD comparison, the orders were up 1.8% in the first seven months of 2017. Shipments of aluminium foil by U.S. and Canadian producers stood at 84.3 million pounds during July 2017, down 2.1% from July 2016. Compared to the previous month, shipments declined 3.2% from the June 2017 total of 87.2 million pounds. YTD shipments through July 2017 were down 2.8% to 569.3 million pounds from the same period of 2016. Aluminum Association reports that shipments of can stock by the US and Canadian producers stood at 348.6 million pounds during July 2017, registering a slight drop...
As aluminium increasingly becomes the metal of choice for OEMs across industries bauxite mining stands to grow at a commendable per annum rate through 2021. According to the latest study by Persistence Market Research, the global bauxite market will grow significantly during 2016-2021. Going by the U.S. Geological Survey data, the world’s total bauxite production in 2015 was 15 per cent more than that in 2014. Total mine production reported from 30 countries stood at 200 million tonnes. The leading bauxite producers (in decreasing order of tonnage) were Australia, China, Brazil, Malaysia, India, Guinea and Jamaica. China and Australia together accounted for 49 per cent of the world’s production. During the five years period under review bauxite mine production is expected increase...
Conrad Business Supplies has decided to continue its partnership with Panasonic Automotive & Industrial Systems Europe GmbH (PAISEU) to sell the latter’s passive components. For this, Conrad has signed a direct sales partnership deal targeting automotive, industrial, IoT and R&D markets. Panasonic Automotive & Industrial Systems Europe GmbH (PAISEU) manufactures a wide range of electrolyte and polymer aluminium capacitors, resistors and inductors for industrial, automotive and home entertainment sectors. PAISEU product and sales director Maximilian Jakob said, “In Conrad we are delighted to have found a partner which is eager to invest, and brings to the table both product-specific expertise and a customer base which is a good match for our focus markets, namely automotive, industrial,...
The fourth round of environmental inspections in China has started in 31 provinces and metal producers in the regions covered by the scan have been required to shut down for environmental reasons. Aluminium producers in many regions of Zhejiang have closed for environmental check. An SMM report says environmental protection tax will take effect in China from January 1. Three departments have recently issued a notice recently regarding implementation of environmental protection tax. Though optimistic speculations over supply side reform and production cut policy on environmental checks have sent LME and SHFE aluminium prices to new highs; SMM projects that the market would still be affected by poor market fundamentals. China’s annualized operational aluminium capacity stood at 36.74...
LME aluminium after testing an upper-end support at US$2,046 per tonne surged to cross the US$2,050 per tonne mark and closed at US$2,056 per tonne on Tuesday, August 15. The light metal rose by 1.28 per cent from its earlier close at US$2,030 per tonne on August 14. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium will move widely in the near term. The contract will test support at the five-day moving average and range at US$2,035-2,055 per tonne on Wednesday, August 15. Reuters’ technical analysis suggests that aluminium prices at LME may rise up to levels last seen in September 2014 if they manage to break above US$2,078.75 per tonne. As on August 15, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,055 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price...
Alumil Rom Industry, producer and distributor of aluminium extrusion and profiles for architectural use in Romania, registered a net profit of 230,954 lei ($303,600/224,700 euro) in the first six months of 2017, down by 56 per cent. The company said in an unaudited financial statement posted on the Bucharest Stock Exchange BVB website. Alumil Rom Industry‘s sales revenue increased 3.22 per cent to 28.18 million lei in the first six months of this year from 27.30 million lei a year ago. The company made an operating profit of 592,012 lei through June, a fall of 38 per cent. The gross margin decreased 1.39 per cent to 8.51 million lei in the first six months of 2017 from 8.63 million lei in the first six months of 2016. The company had total assets of 73.50 million lei on June 31 from 78.44...
Braidy Industries has selected a 380-acre site on the Ohio River near Ashland, Kentucky for a $1.3 billion, 2.5-million-square-foot aluminium rolling plant that it announced in April 2017. The news has been confirmed by the Commercial Property Executive. The company expects to start construction of the first Greenfield aluminium rolling mill in the U.S. in more than 30 years by early 2018. The plant is estimated to produce 370,000 tons of aluminium sheet and plate annually to supply to the automotive and aerospace industries. The plant is also expected to draw $25 million state incentives, with $10 million in tax breaks tied to investment and job creation goals throughout the next 15 years. The Braidy project is one of the series of developments in the recent times to expand U.S....
India major aluminium scrap commodities prices increased on the Scrap Register Price Index as on Friday in line with aluminium futures prices at India's Multi Commodity Exchange amid worries about supplies from China have been reinforced by Shandong province, which ordered the closure of 3.21 million tons of aluminium capacity. India's major aluminium scrap commodities like aluminium rod company, aluminium rod local, aluminium sheet cutting, aluminium utensil scrap and aluminium wire scrap traded higher on the Scrap Register Price Index as on Friday. The most active August aluminium contract on Multi Commodity Exchange advanced by 0.39 percent to INR 130.30 per kilogram on Friday from previous close 129.80 a kilogram. The MXC aluminium prices touched an intra-day high of INR 130.45 per...
LME aluminium gave up some its recent gains and dipped slightly as the dollar bounced back and the market started digesting the news of Chinese aluminium capacity cuts. The light metal closed at US$2,030 per tonne on Monday, August 14, down from its earlier close of US$2,040.50 per tonne last Friday, August 11. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium will move around the five-day moving average and range at US$2,015-2,035 per tonne on Tuesday, August 15. Reuters’ technical analysis suggests that LME aluminium may retest a support at US$2,021 per tonne, as it temporarily peaked around the top-end resistance at US$2,046 per tonne. As on August 14, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,029.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price...
According to an SMM report, downstream producers thronged the East China spot market after SHFE 1708 aluminium fell over 200 RMB/tonne on Monday morning. It is notable that sellers who were making huge profit on the rise of price got discouraged to sell after the fall in SHFE aluminium, while traders and consumers showed modest willingness to buy the metal, SMM found. Mainstream traded prices for aluminium were 15,520-15,540 RMB/tonne in Shanghai, 15,520-15,540 RMB/tonne in Wuxi, and 15,560-15,580 RMB/tonne in Hangzhou. Last week, SHFE 1710 aluminium hit the highest since April 2012 at 16,460 RMB/tonne and LME aluminium touched the highest since December 2014 at $2,046.5/tonne. SMM predicted that fading positive factors would expose aluminium prices to small downward corrections in the...
Army engineers at the Aberdeen Proving Ground facility in Maryland has discovered a new energy source by mixing nano-galvanic, aluminium-based powder with water, or with any liquid containing water. According to them, this technology produces high amount of energy for fuel and fuel cells. The aluminium powder hydrolyzes water, splitting it into two oxygen molecules and one hydrogen molecule. It was an already known fact to the engineers that hydrogen can be harvested by adding aluminium. But this method requires time, elevated temperatures, added electricity, and/or toxic chemicals. “In our case, it does not need a catalyst,” says Anit Giri, a physicist with the lab. “Also, it is very fast. For example, we calculate that one kilogram of aluminium powder can produce 220 kilowatts of energy...
RUSAL, the leading global aluminium producer has announced the commissioning of a complex of furnaces for the hardening of wire rods at the Kandalaksha Aluminium Smelter for pilot production. The total level of investment into the project was USD 5.6 mln. The project, launched in March 2016, will enable the production of 6800 tonnes of wire rods from the 6101-T4 alloy per year, whilst also expanding the client base and increasing the competitiveness of RUSAL’s products. Consumers of the KAZ hardened wire rods are both domestic and foreign manufacturers of cable products. The new complex is equipped with four state-of-the-art convection furnaces for hardening, a loading and unloading table, a transborder and two drying chambers. The special feature of the complex is that the rods will be...
With the electric vehicles becoming the order of the future, technology experts are spending hours in the lab developing battery technologies that are better than the best. In a similar endeavour to design a cheaper yet safer alternative to lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy and his company Ionic Materials has recently introduced a solid-state alkaline battery design using aluminium instead of zinc. Aluminium-based alkaline batteries could potentially weigh less than lithium-ion designs and could be cheaper than the alkaline designs available today, Joy told the New York Times. The prototype designs of the aluminium-based alkaline batteries have demonstrated up to 400 recharge cycles; Ionic Materials believes that the number of recharge...
National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) yesterday announced that the company is considering lending its brand name to downstream micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that deals with aluminium application. Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD of NALCO, has made the announcement while addressing the participants at the 31 st Annual State level Convention of Odisha Assembly of Small & Medium Enterprises at Bhubaneswar. Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand stated: “While Nalco provides a large market for the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises of Odisha and has supported the growth of the sector as a responsible Mother Plant, the company is now considering lending its brand name for downstream MSME industries dealing with aluminium applications”. He said the move would not only boost the small and medium...
