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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Canada is one of the leading aluminium producers in the Americas. It is the third-ranked producer of aluminium in the world supported by technologically sound aluminium smelters run on cheaper hydropower. Based on year-to-date average daily production of 8,820 metric tons, the annual projection of aluminium production for Canada stands at 3,219,190 metric tons. Rio Tinto has the largest aluminium smelters in Canada. The country imports the largest part of its alumina to feed its smelters. Rio Tinto owned Vaudreuil refinery, Jonquiere and Quebec refineries produce about 1.56 million tonnes of alumina and the rest of its demand is filled by import. As our data shows, Canada imported about 3.42 million tonnes of alumina in 2015. The amount jumped up in 2016 to reach 4.64 million tonnes. In...
Bosai Group has planned to build an alumina refinery project in Gaizhou, Yingkou in Liaoning Province, according to the news published on Shanghai Metals Market. The alumina refinery project will have an annual production capacity of 5 million tonnes. The construction of the project will depend on market supply & demand after production restrictions during the winter season. The alumina project is expected to use bauxite from Ghana, SMM learned. As previously reported, Chongqing Bosai Minerals Group had entered into a strategic agreement with the government of Gaizhou to build an alumina refinery project. The company has an intention to spend an initial amount of 10 billion yuan. Bosai Minerals Group Co., Ltd.’s key products include aluminium, metallurgical grade alumina, brown fused...
China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) has further cut aluminium prices it offered in China’s major markets today. Unit: RMB/tonne Aluminium stocks in five major markets continued growing this week to new record highs, including SHFE aluminium stocks. Stocks in these five regions: Shanghai (275,000 tonnes), Wuxi (589,000 tonnes), Nanhai (325,000 tonnes), Hangzhou (90,000 tonnes) and Gongyi (94,000 tonnes) - totalled 1.37 million tonnes as on August 10, up 39,000 tonnes from a week ago, SMM data showed. Base metals on SHFE got a boost from rising ferrous and non-ferrous metals price on Thursday’s night trading. According to SMM weekly price outlook, aluminium prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) is expected to move within a range of RMB 16,000-16,250 tonnes...
Finally, the most awaited turnaround in the aluminium market seems to have arrived! LME aluminium which hit the highs after more than two-and-a-half-years has crossed the US$2,000 per tonne mark on Wednesday, August 9, at US$2,018 per tonne and climbed further up to close at US$2,024 per tonne on Thursday August 10. With positive market sentiments flooding and investors thronging the market, the LME aluminium prices are expected to stay highs in the near term. LME base metals outperformed SHFE base metals yesterday. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium will trade at US$2,025-2,045 per tonne on Friday, August 11. As on August 10, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,023 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is...
Rockman Industries, a part of Hero Group and a supplier of aluminium die casting components, has planned to set up an aluminium die casting facility in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu yesterday accepted the company’s proposal. The company is investing a sum of INR 540 crore for setting up the die casting plant. The investment will be made over the next six years. This would also generate 1600 employment opportunities. Director of Rockman Industries V. Veerappan met N. Chandrababu Naidu in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB) CEO Jaasthi Krishna Kishore. They discussed the production of die casting parts as well as other components for the two and four-wheeler market. According to the statement from...
The charge in SHFE aluminium prices have caused a dramatic drop in aluminium billet processing fees (including tax, self-pickup) in Guangdong recently and are even offered flat with or lower than aluminium ingot prices. According to SMM, the drop has been attributed to a chain of developments. Due to rise in SHFE aluminium, aluminium billet prices have currently increased in all the markets which are not acceptable to aluminium buyers. Secondly, according to recent statistics, aluminium billet stocks at public and private warehouses in Guangdong have exceeded 200,000 tonnes due to slow demand. Because of the off-season, orders have fallen sharply at local aluminium extrusion producers, causing a fall in aluminium billet demand. The billet processing fees have been dropped to encourage...
Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) has announced through a press release that it has partnered with marketing partner Rawmin to apply for a grant from the Australian government for funds to develop its Binjour Bauxite Project in the Wide Bay Burnett region of central Queensland. The project involves production of beneficiated metallurgical-grade and cement-grade bauxite from Binjour for export from Bundaberg Port. The firms submitted a proposal to Canberra for the Regional Jobs and Investment Package for the Wide Bay Burnett region in Queensland. The grant up to A$20 million is intended for diversifying the local economy, stimulating economic growth, and establishing sustainable employment for the area along with supporting project costs. Commenting on the project, ABx CEO, Ian Levy...
The global aluminium composite panels market is anticipated to grow at a composite annual growth rate of seven per cent by 2022, according to a new research report. The report provides answers to the stakeholders helping them to know which market segments they should focus on during the next five years in order to prioritize efforts and investments. The report covers geographic analysis that includes regions like North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022. The market can be segmented by applications which include External Architectural Cladding, Interior Decoration, Signage& Digital Printing, and other Industry. The top manufacturers in global market are...
Two leading consumer durable brands - LG and Lenovo recently launched their latest smartphone models in India. While LG launched LG Q6 , its first smartphone under the new 'Q series', Lenovo came up with its latest mid-budget offering K8 Note . Both the devices have spectacular features and come with frames crafted out of advanced aluminium alloy. LG Q6 flaunts a metallic frame and a sleek design alongside a 5.5-inch FHD+ FullVision display with a pixel density of 442. The metal frame is made from strong 7000 series aluminium alloy which makes the handset classy and durable. The phone has a thickness of 8.1 mm and weighs 149 grams only. K8 Note comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD display with a counted resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. The body constructed using 5000-series aluminium while the...
In a disclosure statement posted by Oman Cables Industry on Wednesday in the Muscat Securities Market website said that the daily operations at Oman Aluminium Processing Industries (OAPIL) in Sohar have been partially affected due to disruption in supply of liquid metal from Sohar Aluminium. According to the statement, the supply disruption was due to an unexpected development that affected Sohar Aluminium. It is noteworthy that Sohar Aluminium reported about an accident at its smelter in Sohar on August 4 that cause disruption in company’s normal operations. According to the company statement, the accident will have no long-term implications on the operations of Sohar Aluminium. The company is expected to “resume normal operations at the earliest.” AOPIL and its shareholders are working...
Trade group the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) has reported that local authorities collecting cartons for recycling poly aluminium layers has increased in China. Recovered polymer and aluminium layers – material known as polyAl – from the beverage cartons is sent to be recycled at a “high quality”, “fully-audited” recycling plant in China. ACE UK said it continues to look at options for polyAl recycling, with the long term aim of finding a UK solution as technology develops. According to the spokesperson, in China the polyAl goes through a mechanical process that separates the polyethelene element (film, straws, caps) from the aluminium. The polyethelene is used to manufacture items such as garden furniture and play mats and the aluminium is recycled and used in...
Indonesia possesses significant reserves of bauxite and has become a major exporter to China. The country was the second leading bauxite-producing country in 2013. But after the export ban imposed in 2014, the production dropped significantly in the country. Indonesia imposed a banned in order to improve domestic processing. The government operated 32 mineral processing and refining corporations from 2012 to 2016. On January 12 2017, Indonesia government lifted ban allowing the export of bauxite and nickel within limitations decided by the government. Recently, the country loaded 56,000 tonnes of high-quality bauxite to Lubei Group after the government lifted ban on bauxite export. Kendawangan and Tayan mines represent the largest bauxite reserves in Indonesia, having estimated reserves...
AlCircle, the Virtual Aluminium Ecosystem, has just published an exclusive report titled “Potline Failure in Aluminium Smelters: Observations and Recent Case Studies (2013-2017).” The study which looks into major case studies spanning last five years across the global aluminium industry finds in power outage the single biggest cause behind plotline failure in aluminium smelters. Potline failures in aluminium smelters have significant financial impact. They reduce the potlife up to varying extent thereby lowering the productivity of the smelter for a proportionate duration of time. To cope with this unplanned yet sizeable loss of man-hour and money, aluminium producers across the world have been investing in cutting-edge smelter technologies over the years.; yet, it continues to remain a...
Despite massive production cuts in July, China still has surplus aluminium in the market due to poor domestic consumption. SMM feels the oversupply will persist and aluminium stocks will continue growing in the long term due to new capacity that would be coming online in future. China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) has cut aluminium prices it offered across major markets today after hiking prices for three consecutive days. According to a statement filed by Chalco to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, aluminium market is facing uncertainties because of two factors. On the one hand, they feel, aluminium industry is benefitting from government policies, while higher power tariffs may push up production costs for aluminium which will lead to big volatility in aluminium market....
Aleris Corporation reported net loss of $2 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2017 compared to net loss of $13 million in Q2 2016. Adjusted EBITDA was up slightly to $66 million from $65 million in Q2 2016. Commenting on the results, Sean Stack, Aleris Chairman and CEO said. "We delivered solid results in the second quarter and first half." "I am very pleased with our global team's focus and execution during the quarter, delivering much stronger operating performance while also making substantial progress on our Lewisport automotive expansion. As we expect to conclude the project later this year and begin shipping product, we will have strategically repositioned our business, enabling Aleris to focus on higher growth and a much higher value added mix." Higher adjusted EBITDA was...
China urged the U.S. government on Thursday to act "prudently" to avoid damaging economic relations between the two countries, in a strongly worded response to Washington's preliminary decision to slap anti-dumping duties on Chinese aluminium foil. In a statement posted on the Ministry of Commerce's Wechat account, the government said the United States had ignored cooperation offered by Beijing and Chinese companies in making its ruling this week. The statement, attributed to Wang Hejun, head of the Commerce Ministry's trade remedy and investigation bureau, was more strongly worded than typical responses to trade disputes with the United States. The statement said there were no grounds to accuse China's aluminium producers of benefiting from subsidies.
Renishaw, a manufacturer of advanced metal additive manufacturing systems, and Aeromet International Limited, a supplier of aluminium and magnesium castings for the aerospace and defence industries, have joined forces to establish additive manufacturing process parameters and material properties for Aeromet's A20X aluminium alloy. A20X is a high-strength aluminium alloy technologies, developed and patented by Aeromet. Mike Bond, Director of AMT a Division of Aeromet said, “A20X is being rapidly adopted for additive manufacture of aero engine, airframe, space, defence and automotive parts. It's unique combination of high strength, high ductility and performance at high operating temperatures make it ideal for light-weight, stressed components. We look forward to making processing...
The uptrend in LME aluminium is finally on solid tracks. The light metal which hit the highs after more than two-and-a-half-years crossed the US$2,000 per tonne barrier to close at US$2,018 per tonne on Wednesday, August 9, rising from the earlier close of US$1,981 per tonne on August 8. With investors flooding the world market on the prospects of wide-scale capacity closures by the biggest aluminium producing region, China, the aluminium prices are expected to hover at highs in the foreseeable future. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium will trade at US$2,005-2,035 per tonne on Thursday, August 10. As on August 9, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,017 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,018 per...
