Aluminium alloy powder production for additive manufacturing is set to expand through a new technical cooperation agreement between CNPC Powder China Ltd and Xi’an Bright Laser Technologies Co Ltd (BLT). The agreement covers the production and international distribution of BLT-AlAM400, an aluminium alloy powder developed for applications in humanoid robotics, new energy vehicles (NEVs), aerospace and other industrial sectors. Under the agreement, BLT has authorised Shanghai-based CNPC Powder to manufacture BLT-AlAM400 on a contract basis in China and sell the powder internationally. CNPC Powder has also secured exclusive overseas agency rights, excluding BLT’s direct sales network and existing regional agents. With an annual powder production capacity of almost 10,000 tonnes, CNPC Powder...
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...
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New Day Aluminium subsidiary Noranda Bauxite & Alumina is planning to invest US$35 million for expansion and upgradation of an alumina refinery in St. James Parish, CEO David D’Addario announced on Friday, May 19. The company having bauxite mining operations in Jamaica also plans to set up its headquarters at the Gramercy complex. The aluminium refinery on the bank of the Mississippi River was built by Kaiser Aluminium & Chemical Corp., and has operated in St. James Parish since 1958. The alumina refinery upgradation project will include design and implementation of equipment aimed at enhancing production, storage and transport of chemical-grade alumina. “These capital improvements represent the largest capital expenditure at Gramercy in more than a decade,” D’Addario said in the news...
Press Metal Bhd, reported a 57% jump in both revenue and earnings in Q1 2017 driven by higher output coupled with improved metal prices. The company ramped up its aluminium smelting capacity in mid-2016 in order to increase its sales volume. The country’s largest aluminium smelter announced earnings of RM148.05mil and revenue of RM2.02bil in Q1 2017 ended March 31. The quarterly earnings were higher than the company’s average annual earnings in last five years. In May 2016, Press Metal completed the production ramp-up of its Samalaju Phase 2 smelter in Sarawak, doubling its production capacity to 640,000 tonnes per year and this turned out to be the biggest performance booster for the company in Q1 2017. According to its latest annual report, currently, Press Metal Bhd has the largest...
International business leaders, engineering experts and academics from the automotive industry and complete aluminium value chain will be converging in Shanghai in July for Aluminium China 2017, to share the latest developments in lightweight automotive design and manufacturing. Aluminium is increasingly seen as playing a key role in minimising overall weight while ensuring strength and safety for a new generation of lightweight vehicles. And the global auto industry has a lot to gain, including the enhancement of power, reduction in fuel consumption and the mitigation of air pollution to strengthen energy efficiency and improve environmental protection. Statistics show that the aluminum-made vehicle body can reduce the overall vehicle weight by 10-15%. This year’s Aluminium China 2017,...
UC RUSAL, world’s second largest aluminium producer, announces that it has completed the modernization programme at the Boksitogorsk Alumina Refinery. The total amount of investment in the project amounted to USD1.65 mln. The project which was launched in October 2015 and ran through to May 2017 involved the installation of certain up-to-date crushing and processing equipment designed to increase the total output of the corundum products of the refinery up to 79 thousand tonnes per annum. In particular, the production of refractory materials and abrasives will be increased by 6 thousand tonnes and 4 thousand tonnes per annum accordingly. Corundum is a refractory and chemically ultra-hard material based on aluminum oxide. It is used in the metallurgical industry and engineering...
Canada is the fourth largest producer of aluminium in the world and the second largest exporter after Russia. The country is the fifth largest scrap exporter, the US being the first. {newsStudioGallery} The worldwide demand for secondary aluminium is increasing significantly due to the growing requirements of lighter vehicles. The automotive industry consumes around 80 per cent of secondary aluminium. According to the recent estimate, in 2015, Canada exported 414572 tons of aluminium scrap. The country exported around 493686 tons of aluminium scrap in 2016. Canada is estimated to export around 143783 tons of aluminium scrap in, an extreme decline. In 2015, the total revenue from the export stood at US$ 630 million. The country exported an estimated US$ 718.86 million value of aluminium...
Chinese President Xi Jinping's dream project which aims at transforming a backwater called Xiongan, located 110km south of Beijing, into a technology and innovation hub, a city three times as big as New York, is set to create huge demand for aluminium building materials. Jinping announced the state-level plan on April 1 this year. The city planned over a land area measuring 2,000 square kilometres will come up near the port city of Tianjin. Xiongan New Area is designed to relieve the pressure on Beijing from where state-owned companies and institutions including universities will be relocated to Xiongan. According to a study by Wood Mackenzie, the investment in Xiongan totallig up to $580 billion over 20 years, according to some estimates, is going to create demand for residential,...
After declining through the first fortnight of May, alumina prices in China have registered a gain and currently remain flat throughout all the major markets. As on May 19 2017, as reported by Shanghai Metals Market; the average spot alumina price in South China market stands at RMB 2,265/t. In the North China Market, the average spot alumina price stands at RMB 2300/t. Market price difference between north China and south China remains unchanged at around RMB35/t. The average spot alumina price in East China market stands at RMB 2,320/t. In the Central China Market, the average spot alumina price stands at RMB 2310/t. Alumina prices from large scale alumina enterprises remained firm. Chalco alumina prices remain stable at RMB 2,475/t and are expected to move within a range of RMB 2,450-...
Guinea cannot afford to thrive on bauxite exports over the long term and keep overlooking developmental issues of its domestic aluminium industry. Doing that would not only make the economy vulnerable in the hands of global commodity price volatility uncontrollable on its part but would also jeopardise the development of its domestic aluminium industry, which otherwise seem to hold greater prospects than projected. Alpha Condé, the president of the Republic of Guinea, said this last week at the biggest mining event of Guinea, themed around “The Mining Sector: The Key To Transforming The National Economy For The Benefit Of All Actors.” Alpha Condé, President of the Republic of Guinea Condé started his address by saying, “I have already said that mines cannot be the lever for the...
Japan’s Kobe Steel, Ltd. today announced that Kobelco Automotive Aluminum Rolled Products (China) Co., Ltd. has opened a plant in Tianjin, China for the production of automotive aluminium panel material. The company produces and sells automotive aluminium panel material. Kobelco Automotive Aluminium Rolled Products (China) is the first production base for aluminium panel material in China. It has a production capacity of 100,000 tons per annum. Kobe Steel explained: “China is the world’s largest automobile market. Current production of approximately 28 million cars is anticipated to grow to about 33 million vehicles in 2025. Due to environmental issues, automotive emission regulations and fuel efficiency standards are expected to become stricter, and the need to reduce the weight of car...
The latest data from Wold Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) showed that the global primary aluminium market was in a deficit in the first quarter of the current calendar year. The deficit however, has narrowed down to 356,000 tonnes from a staggering 1.12 million tonnes in the entire 2016. The worldwide primary aluminium demand was up by 1.15 million tonnes from the corresponding period previous year to stand at 15.05 million tonnes during January-March 2017. While this easing out of primary aluminium deficit by 764,000 tonnes (year-on-year) helps bring some relief for the global aluminium industry players, China’s aluminium output data again takes that away. The country with its 8.2 million tonnes primary aluminium output recorded in the first quarter of 2017 signals at a global surplus...
A UK-based producer of metal powders for 3D printing and other manufacturing technology, Metalysis, has announced a partnership for making aluminium-scandium alloys. When combined with aluminium, the metallic element gains benefits like high strength to weight ratio that makes it suitable for aerospace and automotive applications. The world produces around 10 tonnes of scandium per year while the demand for the metal is about 50% higher than that making it a very expensive material. Through this partnership, Metalysis aims to “aid in resolving cost constraints encountered in manufacturing aluminium-scandium alloys” through its patented Fray, Farthing, Chen (FFC) technique. The opening of Metalysis’s specialist Materials Discovery Center revealed about its powdered metal processes to the...
The Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST), a global leader in metallurgical casting research centre at Brunel University London, has developed an advanced aluminium alloys and casting techniques for lightweight aluminium cars and trains. BCAST is working with foundry partner Sarginsons Industries and others on the Lightweight Energy Absorbing Aluminium Structures for Transport (LEAAST) project for developing cast aluminium alloys, the recycling of aluminium alloys using melt-conditioned direct chill casting, and the overcasting technology. For this, two aluminium alloys have been developed and successfully tested. The LEAAST project involved an investment of £2.2m, which began in May 2015. The project is being funded by Innovate UK, and involves 10 industrial...
LME aluminium gave up its recent gains and dropped to US$1,905 per tonne Thursday, May 18, from its previous peak at US$1,928 per tonne on May 17. The light metal traded globally finds a strong support at US$1,900 per tonne. Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) forecast says LME aluminium price will move at US$1,900-1,925 per tonne range on Friday, May 19. As on May 18, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,904 per tonne, cash seller & settlement price is US$1,905 per tonne, 3M buyer price is US$1,905 per tonne, 3M seller price is US$1,906 per tonne, Dec1 buyer price is US$1,938 per tonne, and Dec1 seller price is US$1,943 per tonne. The current LME official Opening Stock of aluminium is estimated at 1515400 tonnes, total Live Warrants is 964850 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrant...
Mechatherm International, a global provider of furnaces and casthouse equipment for the aluminium industrial sectors, has bagged a multi-million pound contract for the supply of melting and holding furnaces to the one of the biggest aluminium producers in the world. The funding for the project is being provided by UK Export Finance and Barclays. Andrew Riley, chairman of Mechatherm International, said: “We are delighted to be awarded this order which is testimony to the expertise and hard work of our staff and enables us to compete with some of the larger companies in the market place.” "The support from UK Export Finance and Barclays has made this possible and we are delighted they have confidence in the company’s management team and financial status to deliver this order.” Lee Clarke,...
South Northamptonshire Council (SNC) has teamed up with Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro), an association for aluminium packaging producers, reprocessors and fillers in the UK, for the promotion of “MetalMatters’ recycling campaign across the district. Rick Hindley, executive director of Alupro, said: “The MetalMatters programme has delivered significant increases in the volumes of metal packaging collected for recycling in other parts of the UK, so we’re aiming to repeat – and hopefully better this – in South Northants." The “MetalMatters’ recycling campaign is a communications campaign revolved around educating householders about metal packaging recycling and motivating to recycle more at home. MetalMatters is funded by the metal packaging and recycling industry and...
In our last update on China bauxite market, dated May 17, we reported a downtrend for the ore prices in few of the major Chinese provinces. The data presented clearly showed that the average bauxite price (6.0=Al/Si<7.0) in Henan was down at RMB 380 per tonne (-10% from the previous week) and Bauxite (6.0=Al/Si<7.0) Shanxi stood at RMB 355 per tonne (-5% from the previous week), as on May 16. However, given the rising bauxite demand in the China domestic market and the recent clampdown on tax evaders, these price trends are expected to reverse in the short term. According to research by Torvald Klaveness, China’s continued appetite for bauxite is also helping to drive up the tonne-mile demand for the dry bulker sector. The world's largest aluminium consumer is going farther afield for the...
The aluminium production process requires up to half a tonne of carbon for every tonne of metal produced. Specifically ‘petroleum coke’ or petcoke, a by-product of the oil refining process, is a significant fuel for the power generation and aluminium smelting industries along with the cement industries. Anode-grade petcoke, commonly defined as that with a sulfur content of less than three percent has solid demand in the aluminium industry. {newsStudioGallery} India has seven aluminium smelters with a total installed capacity of 2.6 million tpy operated by three aluminium producers National Aluminium Co. Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd and Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. India has an installed alumina capacity of 6.5.million tonnes and the reported production of alumina stands at 4 million tonnes in...
AluK, a global leader in the design and engineering of aluminium window, door and curtain walling systems, announced that the company’s high-performance aluminium building systems have been selected for a new resort in Sanya, China. The company’s three aluminium building systems 62TT, 70TT, and SC95TT have been chosen for the Atlantis resort. The three building systems give thermal and acoustic performance for this high-end development, as claimed. Apart from AluK’s sleek aluminium systems which provide slim sightlines and contemporary profiles, the resort has a superb accommodation, an indulgent spa, and luxury boutiques. The new Atlantis Resort in China was developed by Fosun International Ltd and Kerzner International Holdings Ltd. Atlantis Sanya will open at the end of the year on...
