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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Mecon, India's leading engineering consultant, has recommended imposition of minimum import price (MIP) on primary aluminium products. The firm submitted its report stating its findings and recommendations to the Aluminium Association of India last week. Mecon was appointed by the aluminium industry body comprising domestic aluminium producers Hindalco Industries Ltd., Bharat Aluminium Co. Ltd, Vedanta Ltd, to investigate the case of cheap aluminium imports from China and other countries flooding India market and come up with a report on why there was a need to impose a safeguard duty on the products' import. “The association has forwarded recommendation on imposing MIP at 15 per cent of London Metal Exchange (LME) price on primary aluminium imports to the ministry of mines. The mines...
Some big aluminium producers seek a premium of $95-$110 per ton from Japanese buyers for primary metal shipments in the January to March period, up 27-47 percent from the previous quarter, five sources involved in pricing talks said on Friday. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of the metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region. Any increase in the quarterly premiums would mark the first rise in three quarters, and reflect tightening supply, although buyers said the initial offers were too high, the sources said. For the October-December quarter, Japanese aluminium buyers agreed to pay a premium of $75 a ton for the metal, down 17 percent to 19 percent from the prior...
Indonesia raced past Australia to become China’s top alumina supplying country in the month of September, General Customs data of China showed. Alumina imports from Indonesia surged 191.1 per cent month-on-month to total at 81,800 tonnes, while the shipments from Australia dropped 67.3 per cent month-on-month to reach 31,500 tonnes in September 2016. China’s total alumina imports were estimated at 142,500 tonnes in the month under review, up 10.7 per cent from August. The figure, however, shrunk 62.3 per cent from the corresponding period previous year. Alumina is extracted from bauxite ore by means of the Bayer process at an alumina refinery. It is thereafter subjected to electrolysis in a smelter to produce aluminium by the Hall-Héroult process. Following the recent gains in alumna...
Germany's contribution in the progress of technology, engineering and innovation across industries has remained unparalleled since years. Ever since aluminium industry has felt the urge of riveting enhanced focus on downstream manufacturing to cater to the rising demand of the metal in various sectors, the country has played a key role in providing the right technology solution for aluminium extrusion, rolling and fabrication. The domestic downstream aluminium industry has also grown in tandem with the global market. One of the major product categories manufactured here comprises aluminium tubes and pipes fittings. While the consumption of the same has increased in the domestic sector, the export has declined over the last three years. {newsStudioGallery} Germany exported 5030.69 tonnes...
Unregulated bauxite mining seems to have affected the environment of Pahang too deeply than it was initially thought to be. A recent audit report by the Department of Environment (DOE) revealed that high concentration of heavy metal was detected in the river water in Kuantan's bauxite mining area. The water quality sampling of the river was carried out at nine locations on the basis of three parameters as outlined by the Auditor-General’s Report 2015 Series 2: heavy iron metal, mercury and aluminium contamination. The result- all three parameters were found to have exceeded the National Water Quality Standard For Malaysia. “The highest parameter for aluminium was 7.3mg/L in Sungai Kuantan in February 2016, while the highest parameter for iron was 10.32mg/L in Sungai Riau in August 2015,”...
The leading aluminium manufacturing company Struga Aluminium l has developed a new industrial unit in Morocco's Larache region at a total investment of more than 92 million dirhams. The new facility will churn out a wide range of interior and exterior aluminium doors under the brand name 'Aludoors.' Strugal will also export aluminium doors manufactured at the Larache site to European and West African countries, said a senior company executive. As per Strugal's latest update, the Larache site will house two assembly lines- one for producing interior aluminium doors and another for producing aluminium doors for the exteriors. The two assemblies with a combined capacity of more than 150,000 doors per annum will be able to produce one aluminium door per minute! Strugal, a leader in the...
Aluminium rolled products — sheet, plate and foil have, for many years, formed a large volume of aluminium products shipped annually all over the world along with castings, extrusions, wire, rod and bar, forgings and impacts, and powders and paste. Sheet, plate and foil are usually made by rolling thick aluminium between rolls that reduce the thickness and lengthen it through hot and cold rolling processses. Consumption of rolled products has been increasing over the years due to increased use in the packaging sector. Here is the list of top aluminium rolling companies in the world: 1. Novelis Inc. ( A Hindalco subsidiary) With its acquisition of Novelis, the global leader in value-added high-end aluminium flat rolled products and aluminium can recycling, Hindalco becomes the world’s...
The Indian Railways is gradually shifting from Corten steel to lighter materials- most preferably stainless steel and aluminium, for making coaches, said sources close to the ministry of railways. A specification for aluminium body coaches has already been developed by the Research Designs and Standards Organization. According to experts, aluminium and stainless steel have more strength yet are way lighter in weight than Corten steel. So, these materials can be ideally used to build low-weight coaches. {newsStudioGallery} “Ultimately the railways has to design coaches keeping in mind the dynamics of a moving train. The design of the coaches must be made for safer conditions. If facilities are not augmented to maintain the large fleet, probability of accidents will increase,” said Sudhir...
Aluminium prices drifted lower by 0.91 per cent to INR119.85 per kg in futures trading today as traders reduced positions, driven by easing demand in the spot market. At Mumbai's Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in November declined by INR1.10, or 0.91 per cent to INR119.85 per kg in a business turnover of 297 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in December shed 95 paise, or 0.79 per cent, to INR119.80 per kg in 28 lots. Market analysts said offloading of positions by participants following easing demand from consuming industries at domestic spot markets, mainly led to the fall in aluminium prices at futures trade.
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The demonetisation of INR500 and INR1000 currency notes announced by the Government of India on 8 November 2016, which put an end to the usage of all INR500 and INR1000 banknotes as a form of legal tender from 9 November 2016, had a limited effect on the business of big aluminium players in the country. For example, trucks carrying finished goods were affected for the first couple of days. But since most aluminium producers work with fairly large contractors and they have their raw materials procured mostly via railways, things never really got out of their hands. "I do not see any disruption. Moreover, the largest part of our shipments happens after November 15, by when the transport issues will smoothen out," said Hindalco Industries managing director Satish Pai. The company with...
The current year has seen 40 per cent jump in the price of pacifying a bit of uncertainty in financial markets. However, the price rise had some implications on industrial applications such as solar photovoltaic (PV) cell production. Silver demand for solar applications increased about 23% in 2015 YOY. By 2050, PV is expected to be the world’s single-largest power generation source. Some of the companies are in the lookout for alternative materials and methods for the manufacturing of solar cells. In this effort, one company developed an aluminium foil cell and is seeking a partner to participate in the manufacture of a product that would generate electricity at a cheaper rate. Taking this as an opportunity, one of the high tech companies, Natcore Technology Inc. has developed a...
The energy minister for Saudi Arabia, Khalid al-Falih told reporters at a conference in Jeddah that the kingdom plans to increase the contribution of its mining industry to national wealth three times by 2030 as measured by gross domestic product. Saudi Arabia is working on finalising a mining strategy that aims to raise annual mining revenues from 64-billion riyals ($17-billion) to 240-billion riyals by 2030. "The ministry will develop this vital sector... double the number of work opportunities in the sector and boost exploration activities," Falih said. Saudi Arabia has been making an effort to diversify its economy from oil to other resources. State subsidies are shifting towards mining untapped reserves of bauxite to be used in making aluminium, one of the fastest growing metals at...
LME aluminium is trending higher. The contract after trading at around US$1,765.50/mt on Thursday closed at US$1,774/mt at the end of night trading. The current LME official cash buyer price of aluminium, as on November 25, stands at US$1,773/mt; the 3-months buyer price is US$1,775/mt; and the 3-months seller price is US$1,775.50/mt. The LME official opening stock of aluminium stands at 2137200 tonnes and total Live Warrants are estimated at 1355175 tonnes. LME Asian Reference Price of aluminium (3-months ABR) as on November 25, is estimated at US$1754.08/mt. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium will move between US$1,750-1,770/mt on Friday. In China, aluminium on Shanghai Metal Exchange traded at US$2,154/mt on Thursday. On Friday, November 25, the contract opened...
Orbite Technologies Inc. announced on November 24 that, further to its press release of November 11, 2016, production activities continue to progress positively at its high purity alumina ("HPA") plant. -- As reported on November 11, feedstock digestion continues to operate automatically and smoothly, and digestion liquors continue to be transferred to the crystallisation circuit for the production of aluminum chloride hexahydrate ("ACH") crystals, the precursor to HPA. -- In preparation for the calcination of the produced ACH into HPA, the Company continues to produce amorphous HPA to constitute the initial 'bed' in the fluidized bed decomposer and calciner. This HPA is produced using the Company's legacy low-capacity Harper decomposer and production of the bed material continues to...
Alumasc Rainwater, the leading manufacturer of aluminium rainwater systems in the UK, has significantly improved its lead time across its entire range of services which includes product installation, fitting, and repair. Customers can now benefit from faster service on all of the company's offerings including contemporary pressed and extruded aluminium gutters and downpipes, and standard Skyline Copings, says a senior Alumasc executive. The Heritage Cast Aluminium range is one of Alumasc Rainwater's bestselling products and the company hopes to get a good response from its customers due to improvement on its lead time. “Reducing lead times for our Heritage Cast Aluminium, from 10 working days to 7, has proved so popular with customers we’re now offering faster lead times for all our...
A recent study done by Geo-scientists and researchers of Andhra University, titled 'Bauxite mining in Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, Possible Environmental Implications and Measures for Environmentally Friendly Mining,' has highlighted the environmental implications of open cast bauxite mining in the Agency area and offered suggestions for eco-friendly mining. Andhra Pradesh has the second highest reserves of bauxite in the country. About 750-1000 million tonnes of metal grade bauxite reserves exist in the forest and tribal tracts of Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and Vizianagaram districts in the Eastern Ghats ranges. Andhra Pradesh contributes about 20% of India’s bauxite reserves. The recent decision of the state government to open up bauxite mining in the Eastern Ghats terrain has...
The association of aluminium with environmental sustainability has come a long way. Right from making the smelting process less CO2-spitting to recycling used aluminium for maximum conservation of energy, researchers across the world are leaving no stone unturned to extract the true value of the 'green' metal as much as possible. Recently, Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has come up with yet another one-of-a-kind use of aluminium which aims at protecting environment in a way not heard or seen before. Roosegaarde installed the Smog Free Tower, a seven-meter high aluminium structure in Beijing that removes smog from the air just like an air purifier. The prototype of the aluminium tower was first tested in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In Beijing, the pilot project is located near...
Bahrain’s total value of national origin products export was estimated at BD130 million (US$342 million) in October 2016, according to the kingdom's Information & eGovernment Authority latest report. About 88 per cent of the total shipments made it to the top 10 ranked global destinations while only 12 per cent reached other countries. The Gulf country’s non-oil trade deficit (difference between the value of imports and exports) was estimated at BD204 million for the month. {newsStudioGallery} Aluminium wire ranked as the second most exported product from Bahrain valued at BD16 million, while rectangular alloyed aluminium plates estimated at BD14 million ranked third for the month under review. In 2015, Bahrain exported a total volume of 152853.81 tonnes aluminium wire to international...
