
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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Dekko Window Systems, one of the leading fabricators of high-end uPVC and aluminium windows and doors, is adding aluminium windows in their Raum Collection range. Raum Collection range features high-performing aluminium doors. The company decided to add aluminium window products due to rise in demand for home improvement products. Dekko Sales Director Kurt Greatrex commented: “The original Räum Collection proved so successful it was inevitable that we wou ld add windows to the range at some stage.” “We’ve based them on the Reynaers profile – renowned for its strength, style and fantastic energy efficiency. Now, our trade customers can offer homeowners a complete package of high-end aluminium.” Dekko Window Systems is set to introduce aluminium windows to the industry at the FIT Show in...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. may construct a multibillion-dollar microchip fabrication plant in the U.S. as a part of President Donald Trump’s strategy to attract high-tech jobs and investment to the country. The company is considering a number of locations for a high tech 3-nanometer plant and will take a final decision in the first half of 2018 as said by director of corporate communications Elizabeth Sun. TSMC is the world’s largest contract semiconductor maker that makes chips for popular devices like iPhones. Trump has made a point about increasing taxes and tariffs on companies that have manufacturing facilities in different parts of the world and sell their products in American market. That has spurred car and technology manufacturers to strategize facility expansion in...

The Russian Federation plays a key role in the global aluminium industry value chain. Its major aluminium producer UC RUSAL is a vertically integrated company with bauxite processing and alumina refining operations in Russia's Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk region and Leningrad region. Metallurgical alumina is produced by RUSAL at its Bogoslovsk, Urals, Nikolaev refineries, Basel Cement Pikalevo, Aughinish, Windalco, QAL, Friguia, Eurallumina, and Alpart refineries. Though majority alumina produced by RUSAL is used for in-house aluminium production, a significant percentage is sold to the external customers and it enjoys reasonable demand in the international market. {newsStudioGallery} The five-year historic trade data reveals a year-on-year increasing trend in Russia's alumina export....

Safe Boats International, the U.S. based company, announced that the company has signed a contract with Colombian shipyard Cotecmar for the co-production of aluminium vessels. The aluminium vessels will be used by the Colombian military and regional end-users. Jorge Carreño, CEO of Cotecmar, said: 'Our naval solutions to the world involve high technology and maximum security, which guarantee a significant performance in the missions assigned to the ships we manufacture.” “We are confident that this relationship with Safe Boats allows us to continue to provide lasting and successful naval solutions.” This aluminium vessels contract broadens the earlier signed Memorandum of Understanding with Cotecmar turns into a multi-year. The contract includes co-production of SAFE models that already...

Beer drinkers in America prefer to drink from a convenient aluminium can rather than twisting glass bottle caps. Canned beers represented 56.2% of the market in 2016, continuing the fifth straight annual increase in share and up from 50.3% eight years earlier. The statistics has been shared in the national packaging report by the Beer Institute in America. The share of bottled beer declined to 33.4% in 2016, down from 40.2% in 2008. Beer from a tap has increased only marginally over 2016. The Beer Institute is a national trade association for the American brewing industry, representing both large and small brewers, as well as importers and industry suppliers founded in 1862. It is to be noted that the association has been playing a significant role in protecting the rights of the...

The prices of major aluminium scrap commodities traded in India’s domestic spot market remained relatively flat on Friday, March 17, while aluminium futures prices at the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) edged marginally higher INR 124.90 per kilogram. The Scrap Register Price Index displayed a steady trend for major aluminium scrap commodities on Friday. Key aluminium scrap commodities traded in India domestic market, such as, aluminium cable scrap, aluminium ingots, aluminium rod company, aluminium rod local, aluminium scrap 6063, aluminium scrap taint/tabor, aluminium sheet cutting, aluminium utensil scrap and aluminium wire scrap also held their grounds, revealed market data. The most actively traded March aluminium contract on MCX dropped at INR 124.90 per kilogram on Friday, down 0.84...

Michigan based Muskegon Castings has shifted its production operations to its other factory after a fire broke out in the company’s building earlier this week. The company resumed its aluminium die casting operations and started supplying its primary customer, as confirmed by an official with Port City Group. John Essex, CEO of the Port City Group, said, "We are blessed with the fact we have four other facilities in the area, and we were able to get in after the fire and pull out and remove all the tooling for our customers.” The Port City Group is a parent company of Muskegon Castings that manufactures aluminium die castings, mechanical assemblies and injected moulded plastics in the Muskegon area. Essex further stated that a force majeure letter had been sent to Subaru, a company’s...

According to the monthly aluminium highlights published by Aluminum Association, U.S. and Canadian producers shipped estimated 322.9 million pounds of can stock during February 2017, registering drop of 4.9 per cent YOY. Month on month, shipments decreased 6.1 per cent. YTD shipments through February 2017 stood at 672.8 million pounds, slightly off YOY. Producer shipments of can stock to U.S. markets dropped 3 per cent YOY to 277 million pounds, while exports dropped 14.6 per cent to 46.3 million pounds. Shipments of Non-heat Treatable Sheet (excluding Can Stock) rose slightly to 223.7 million pounds and shipments of All Other Sheet and Plate increased 9.8 per cent to 131.3 million pounds. U.S. and Canadian producers shipped estimated 78.7 million pounds of aluminium foil during February...

LME aluminium has cleared a support at US$1,916. The contract inched higher during Monday's night trading hours closing at US$1,908 per tonne, up 0.36 per cent from the previous close of US$1,901 per tonne. Reuters observes LME aluminium is now up for a fall to US$1,891 per tonne- the next support and an immediate target. As per Shanghai Metals Market forecast, the lightmetal will move in the range of US$1,910-1,930 per tonne on Tuesday, March 21, "hurt by other weak metals." As on March 20, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,907.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement price is US$1,908 per tonne, 3M buyer price is US$1,923 per tonne, 3M seller price is US$1,924 per tonne, Dec1 buyer price is US$1,957 per tonne, and Dec1 seller price is US$1,962 per tonne. The...

Environment Director for Tetra Pak Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia, Terrynz Tan said that within a decade, the beverage carton box manufacturer has recycled 30% of its products in Malaysia recovering the aluminium, paper and polyethylene in them. The company has educated the recycling operators and paper mills in the country about products and their recycling process. The mills initially rejected the product because of the content of 20% polyethylene and 5% aluminium. “Tetrak Pak contains 75% paper, 20% polyethylene and 5% aluminium. The paper mills in the past only knew of recycling newspaper and brown boxes comprising 100% fibre,” she said. “They just lacked information and awareness…We have our technical specialists who later taught the paper mills to use their...

The FCA US Kokomo Casting Plant (KCP) has become safer, efficient and cleaner over the years, according to the plant manager Jerry Peterson. Last year, KCP made a new investment into furnaces for the process of re-melting aluminium in-house in order to improve its efficiency. Peterson said, “We closed the books on 2016, and we re-melted roughly 113 million pounds of metal. By doing that, even though the plant doesn’t necessarily get the savings, our company does. We save about 11 cents a pound by melting it in-house as compared to sending it to an outside vendor. That’s roughly about 13 million pounds we’ve saved.” In 2015, KCP made history by winning bronze rating for its efforts in implementing World Class Manufacturing (WCM). With this, KCP has become the first die casting plant to...

The Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industry Group (VINACOMIN) operated Tân Rai bauxite mine has every quality that it takes a company to stage an emphatic comeback even after posting a mammoth loss, thinks VINACOMIN deputy director Nguyen Van Biên. While explaining the reason behind the widening loss from 2013 till 2016 Van Biên said it was estimated right at the beginning that the project would run at a loss for the initial four years; however, down three years of operation, the actual loss (cumulative) incurred got magnified to VNÐ 3,696 billion (US$162 million). Nevertheless, the Tân Rai bauxite project has many pluses to its side. It is a big one; the technology adopted there is novel and difficult to copy, and hence, cost-intensive; over-three years of operation has endowed...

In a recent update, India's Adani Enterprises said it would finalise the investment decision for its Carmichael coal project in Australia by June. The project has been delayed for last five years due to protests from environmental groups. The proposed mine in the northern state of Queensland is expected to export coal to India. The environmentalists felt that the project will require a mega-port expansion into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to export the huge amount of coal to India. Gautam Adani, chairman of the company said that he expected the project to materialize and the board would take a final decision on investments in May or June, including structure and planned funding. Adani said during an interaction with media that their “internal planning is 2020…(for) first...

Coal India's subsidiary Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) is planning to invite an expression of interest for coal-to-liquid (CTL) project which the company proposes to embark upon, as reported. Coal to liquid means converting coal into liquid fuel that can be used as automobile fuel. It can also be used as an alternative for imported petroleum oil. Coal India's Chairman Sutirtha Bhattacharya said, "Central Coalfields is planning to embark on a coal-to- liquid project in Chatra district (Jharkhand). We have authorised them to invite expression of interest." Coal India has already submitted an expression of interest for pre-qualification of licensers for changing coal to chemical for coal based methanol plant at Dankuni, West Bengal. While attending a meeting on coal quality organised by the...

Germany is the major aluminium market in Europe and is home to the world’s largest automakers. The country contributes 25% of total aluminium consumption in Europe. German aluminium producers and processors produce about 560,000 tonnes of aluminium. It comprises about 260,000 tonnes of primary aluminium and 300,000 tonnes of recycled aluminium. {newsStudioGallery} The aluminium rolling mills account for the largest share of aluminium semis production and the largest customers for rolled aluminium semis are the automotive industry along with packaging and industrial applications. The automotive industry generates a large amount of aluminium scrap. Other than recovering secondary aluminium from the scrap domestically, the country also exports substantial amount of scrap every year....

Chairman of Vedanta Resources, Anil Agarwal announced his plans to buy as much as $2.4 billion or 13 per cent of Anglo American Plc shares in the market after a failed merger proposal last year. The purchase will make Agarwal the second-largest shareholder after South Africa’s Public Investment Corp. The purchase will take place through a mandatory exchangeable bond issued by Vedanta’s holding company, Volcan Investments, and secured by Anglo’s shares, a statement confirmed on Wednesday. “It gives him an extremely good seat at the table if there is going to be any corporate activity,” said Jeremy Wrathall, head of mining research at Investec Plc. “We expect that M&A is going to be the next phase and maybe this is firing the starting gun.” Anglo’s stock performed the best performing stock...

LME aluminium crossed the US$1,900 per tonne mark for the second time this year as the US dollar stayed soft on Friday, March 17. The contract closed at US$1,901 per tonne after night trading, edging higher by 0.31 per cent from its previous close of US$1,895 per tonne on Thursday. As Reuters observes, LME aluminium is neutral in a range of US$1,891-US$1,916 per tonne, and an escape could suggest a direction. Shanghai Metals Market predicts, the contract will hover at highs on Monday, March 20, and will trade at US$1,890-1,943 per tonne. As on March 17, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,900 per tonne, cash seller & settlement price is US$1,901 per tonne, 3M buyer price is US$1,910.50 per tonne, 3M seller price is US$1,911 per tonne, Dec1 buyer price is US$1,945 per...

Kingfisher Windows, a manufacturer of aluminium windows, has spent more than a quarter of a million pounds in buying new production equipment at its existing site in North and West Yorkshire. The company will supply new products which include retail and commercial aluminium windows, aluminium bi fold doors and the lift and slide aluminium doors etc. Neil Webster, Managing Director of Kingfisher Windows, said: ““This supply arrangement is now being extended into the Trade sector where we are opening up new opportunities, predominantly in the supply of niche products, such as Flush PVCu Windows, Retail and Commercial Aluminium windows, Aluminium Bi fold doors and the Lift and Slide aluminium doors that are growing in popularity.” Kingfisher Windows supplies windows and doors to the...