Aluminum's weight, durability cause strong demand

Brian Sylcott's last laptop computer developed a crack after being toted around for everyday use, and a corner of the plastic casing came off. He replaced it with an Apple MacBook Pro with a solid aluminum exterior.

"I thought this might be a little sturdier," the Carnegie Mellon University graduate student said, and more than two years of use has proven him right.

"I may have banged it up a little or walked into something while I was carrying it. There are a couple dents and some scratches on the bottom," said Sylcott, 26, of Brookline, who is working toward a doctorate in mechanical engineering. "Other than that, it's fine."

Aluminum has been taking on a bigger role in electronics products, such as computers, TVs and cell phones as designers try to use more environmentally friendly materials. The metal is easily recycled with no loss in quality, industry experts say, and it has a long list of other pluses.

Strength is one, as Sylcott's MacBook shows. Aluminum is lighter than steel and many plastics, too. It's easy to bend and press into desired shapes; it can conduct current or prevent a device from getting too hot.

And it just plain looks good, whether it's polished to a high-shine finish, brushed or imprinted with a pattern. Alcoa Inc. predicts that aluminum content in laptop computers alone will increase by 10 percent annually through 2013.

"It's a wonderful growth market that we see there," said Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld, referring to electronics, to shareholders at the aluminum producer's annual meeting earlier this month in Pittsburgh. Demand for aluminum worldwide is expected to nearly double in the next decade because of a variety of factors, according to the New York City-based company.