BorgWarner has won its first commercial order for an electric motor developed with aluminium-wire hairpin winding technology. The US automotive supplier will provide the new eMotor to a major Chinese automaker for use in hybrid vehicles, bringing the technology into its first production application. The motor uses aluminium-wire hairpin winding technology and is designed for hybrid vehicles. Its applications include generator motors and traction motors for auxiliary drive systems, with production scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026. Explore AL Circle’s report ALuminium Wires & Cables - Insights & Forecast to 2030 for insights into aluminium applications, industry developments and opportunities across the electrical sector . Compared with conventional copper-wire motors with...
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...
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The estimated aluminium wire export by Saudi Arabia has witnessed a year-on-year drop since 2015. The Middle East country with a strong aluminium semi-finished and finished product manufacturing base has been fostering the growth of the domestic non-oil industry to support its economy alongside to its main industry- oil. The major Saudi aluminium wire manufacturing companies like Midal Cables, ALUPCO, Riyadh Cables, Bahra Cables Company, and Alfanar, to name a few, have expanded fiercely over the last three years to make their presence felt in the international market. {newsStudioGallery} As per global export-import data, Saudi Arabia’s aluminium wire export reached an estimated total of 9590 tonnes in 2015. In 2016, the volume dropped drastically to stand at 1566 tonnes. In 2017, the...
The Transair® business unit of The Fluid System Connectors Division Europe of Parker Hannifin Corporation, the global leader in motion and control technologies, presented its latest Transair aluminium pipework products for compressed air, vacuum and inert gas applications in plant technical rooms. The lightweight aluminium pipework offers space and cost savings advantage as well as minimizing the time required for installations in technical room environments. “The new Transair range includes a choice of pipe diameters and shapes such as end caps with outlet flanges from DN65 to DN200, equal and reducer Ys, increaser tees, equal crosses, flanged crosses and flanged tees,” it said. The new Transair aluminium pipework product comes with minimal mechanical resistance, zero corrosion and a...
Cost reduction is one of the major challenges for Network Rail, the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the rail network in England, Scotland and Wales. Engineers are working on a range of ways in which costs can be reduced, and the electrical fraternity is playing its part. One of the best cost reduction measures is to remove copper from power cables altogether and substitute them with another conductive metal, aluminium, which is cheaper at around £1.50 a kilo. “We can’t get rid of copper by just replacing it with aluminium,” said Nigel Edwards, professional head of power distribution HV/LV at Network Rail. “That’s what’s different about this work stream. It’s a complete system overhaul that allows us to look at the wider implications of the removal of copper.” The proposed...
Scania CV India, a subsidiary of Scania Group, has launched the new U-BODY tipper truck for the country’s mining sector. The global manufacturer of heavy duty vehicles and engines aims to increase productivity across a wide section of mineral exploration including coal, bauxite, and iron ore with the CV while bringing down the Total Operating Economy, an industry source reported. The launch of the U-BODY tipper for exploration of coal, iron ore, bauxite, and other minerals is part of Scania India’s vision to build innovative and sustainable transport solutions for the country’s mining sector. Commenting on the new offering Scania’s Director, Business Support for Commercial Vehicles India, Hanna Johansson said, “Besides being a manufacturer of heavy trucks and buses, Scania is increasingly...
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China is experiencing an increase in investments in secondary aluminium production and producers are shifting focus on using scrap generated within China. China is generating a large amount of aluminium scrap every month. Here is an analysis of the price trends of aluminium extrusion and wire scrap in the major China markets supported by data from Shanghai Metals Market. Scrap prices all across the Chinese market have registered a rise on the daily price index. On July 12, average prices of Clean Tapping Aluminium Wire scrap in the major China markets (South China, East China, Central China and North China) have registered a significant rise. The average price in the North China market stands at RMB12,400/t and for the South China market, it stands at RMB12,100/t. The same scrap is...
Alcoa Corporation announced that it has proposed to restart three of five potlines, which were closed in March of 2016, at its Warrick Operations aluminium smelter near Evansville, Indiana. The company said that it would improve the competitiveness of the on-site rolling mill. The process is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2018. The three potlines will have an annual capacity of 161,400 tons. Tim Reyes, President of Alcoa’s aluminium business unit said, “By restarting a portion of the Warrick smelter, we will provide an efficient source of metal for the co-located rolling mill and help it meet an anticipated increase in production volumes.” I The three potlines will further supply to the company’s rolling mill. The Warrick rolling mill produces flat-rolled aluminium for...
LME aluminium failed to hold highs and dropped below US$1,900 even though the dollar index, which measures the U.S. dollar against a basket of six major currencies, moved lower at 95.660. The light metal contract closed at US$1,879 per tonne after night trading on Tuesday, July 11, down 1.8 per cent from its previous close of US$1,914 per tonne on Monday, July 10. Shanghai Metals Market observes that LME aluminium will trade in the range of US$1,885-1,905 per tonne on Wednesday, July 12. As on July 7, LME official cash buyer aluminium price stands at US$1,978 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price is US$1,879 per tonne, 3M buyer price is US$1,891 per tonne, 3M seller price is US$1,891.50 per tonne, Dec1 buyer price is US$1,923 per tonne, and Dec1 seller price is US$1,928 per...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) closed the first half of 2017 with a production volume of 453,395, down 4.5% YoY. The drop was mainly driven by the production loss in reduction line 5 due to power outage, the recovery process of which is still underway. The total sales volume stood at 453,089 tonnes, which was down by 3.9% YoY. Sales and Production volumes for Q2 2017 topped 210,157 metric tonnes and 204,617 metric tonnes respectively. Alba’s Value-Added Sales was 61% of total shipments in Q2 2017 in comparison to 55% for the same period in 2016. For the first half of 2017, the share of Value-Added Sales stood at 58% compared to 54% in H1 2016. Commenting on Alba production results for H1 2017, Alba’s Executive Officer, Tim Murray said: “We are pleased with the pace of Line 5 recovery...
According to reports, National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) today witnessed a major fire break- out at its Captive Power Plant (CPP) in Angul, Odisha. The incident caused severe damage to the transformer of the CPP. The fire incident that happened at around 2 pm destroyed the generator transformer completely. The generator transformer was priced at around INR 15 crore, the report stated. It is assumed that the transformer caught fire because of excess heating or any other technical fault though the actual reason behind the incident is not known as of now. Nalco’s own teams of fire tenders under fire fighting service controlled the situation at the captive power plant. Nalco's executive director (Smelter & Power) said, "There is no cause for panic. As the generator transformer was old...
The leading insulbar insulating profiles manufacturer Ensinger has announced the receipt of a major order from Western Windows Systems for North America. The company which equips the Series 7000 aluminium-framed moving glass walls, doors and windows from Western Window Systems with insulbar has developed as many as twelve new product lines using this thermal barrier technology. The aluminium-framed moving glass walls, windows and doors that are equipped with Ensinger insulbar are found to achieve the lowest U-values. They are particularly designed for the North American market but have all the qualities it takes to make a solid headway into any matured or emerging market. The newly launched thermally broken aluminium products of Western Window Systems greatly simplify how architects and...
According to the latest figures showed by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, Iranian mining companies produced 84.89 million tons of mineral products during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 21-June 21). The companies registered a 9.49 per cent increase year-on-year. Iran’s three major aluminium manufacturers produced 82,605 tons of aluminium ingots during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, registering a 5.51 per cent decline year-on-year. Iran Aluminum Company, the first producer of aluminium in the country, produced 41,720 tons of aluminium in the first quarter. The company also produced 61,166 tons of alumina powder, up 3.97 per cent year-on-year. Hormozal Aluminum Company produced 26,064 tons of aluminium...
3D printing has revolutionised the metal manufacturing sector including aluminium. Recently, material scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Rice University in Houston, Texas have developed a new process for creating “damage-tolerant components” made from multiple materials by combining both 3D printing with traditional casting methods. The innovative project titled “Damage-tolerant metallic composites via melt infiltration of additively manufactured preforms,” shows how a fusion of 3D printing with casting process can result in optimized parts which are stronger than purely 3D printed or casted parts. According to the researchers the new two-step process eliminates “issues with intermetallic formation, cracking, and poor resolution” that are common in most 3D...
The G20 Summit which was held on 7-8 July 2017, at Haburg Messe, Germany, saw leaders from each country agreeing on the need to remove market-distorting factors and work together to address the global excess of aluminium capacity but no concrete solution could be reached in this regard. It is indeed critical that governments recognise, negotiate and look for solutions together. Nevertheless, we regret that the Summit failed to specifically address the problem of global excess capacity in the aluminium industry”, said Gerd Götz, Director General of European Aluminium. Götz acknowledged the fact that creation of a Global Forum on aluminium excess capacity was necessary in order to foster a level playing field for all aluminium producing countries of the world. A platform like that would...
According to the latest report published by Shanghai Metals Market and forecasted by Li Shilong, General of CIAR, China is going to turn out to be the major source for global aluminium scrap by 2025. Li Shilong said that the secondary aluminium capacity in China has surpassed 10 million tonnes as of now. The country would enter the peak of aluminium consumption by 2020. China is close in becoming the main source for aluminium scrap as the aluminium products in various sectors including automobile and construction is reaching the end of their service life. According to a report published by China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Recycling Metal Branch (CMRA), secondary aluminium production in China will reach around 9 million tonnes growing at CAGR 8 per cent through 2020. A new...
Leading bauxite producer Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) recently updated its investors on the review of bauxite resources at Binjour saying that the project is soon to step into its next logical level. According to the company, Rawmin Mining and Industries Pvt. Ltd, the marketing partner of ABx, has requested to make advancement with the review that began in May, Aluminium Insider reported. The scope of the Binjour bauxite resources review includes a mining lease at Toondoon, located one hundred miles from the port city Bundaberg in central Queensland. The lease having an estimated bauxite reserve of 3.5 million metric tonnes may see commencement of bauxite production even prior to full approval of the operations at Binjour. ABx’s COO Leon Hawker said, “The greater Binjour project has...
The U.S. primary aluminium industry is slowly picking up the pieces on the back of positive expectations generated by the Trump’s ministry. Along with the fall of the primary industry a number of alumina refineries in the U.S. have closed down in 2016, including the shutdowns of the alumina refineries in Gregory, TX, by Sherwin Alumina Co. and in Point Comfort, TX, by Alcoa Corp. An analysis of the foreign trade patterns of alumina for the first quarters of 2016 and 2017 (calendar year) will show us the changed occurred in the alumina market in the U.S. {newsStudioGallery} According to the latest report from U.S. Geological Survey, imports of alumina by the U.S. during Q1 2017 were 308,000 t, 16% more than the amount in the fourth quarter of 2016 and 17% more than those in the first...
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in the UK has asked the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to design a series of screening tests to determine the type of aluminium cladding to be used in the country’s upcoming housing projects. The tests will ensure whether the core of the aluminium composite material sample provided has fire retardant properties. The UK civic and building authorities have upped their vigilance on the use of aluminium composite materials in cladding ever since the Grenfell Tower fire incident happened. They are simultaneously trying to educate people on aluminium composite panels which they say are otherwise a versatile building material provided the core has approved fire retardant properties. To ensure a building with aluminium cladding is...
Spot Alumina prices in major China markets have registered a further fall after the last registered drop in July 7. According to a report from Shanghai Metals Market yesterday, the production of alumina is expected to increase to 5.9 million tonnes in July, and the daily average production to stand at 190,000 tonnes. The production is likely to increase due to increase in production at Yunnan Aluminum’s phase two alumina projects in Wenshan. This news had an impact on the tight alumina market. The average spot alumina prices in South China market dropped to RMB 2,525/t on July 11. In the North China market, spot alumina prices dropped to RMB 2,570/t today. Market price difference between North China and South China also dropped to RMB 45/t today. For East China and Central China market,...
