| Aluminium is the third most common element on Earth after oxygen and silicon. It is the most abundant metal on Earth and has been used widely for almost everything from soft drink cans to car bodies to aircraft parts.
Aluminium is also strongly attracted to oxygen that it can only be refined using huge amounts of electrical energy. However, refining aluminium from its ore is still a costly process. This is why aluminium is often recycled and it can be remelted easily. And with its low melting point of around 600 degrees C, it can also be used in a wide range of industrial processes.
Aluminium can be welded using a very high temperature such as arc-welding machine and a stick of aluminum. Aluminium can also be brazed or soldered with other metals and can also be made harder and strong as steel when formed as an alloy. An alloy is a mixture of various elements designed to give that special characteristics that pure metals do not have. Lightweight and resistance to corrosion are some of its advantages. |
