MENG 210

Manufacturing Processes I

Production of Aluminum
 Lecture breakdown – Aluminum Production

 Nonferrous metals
 Aluminum and Magnesium
 Aluminum Production
 Bayer process
 Hall-Héroult process
 Properties of aluminum

Note 1 - 2 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Nonferrous Metals

 Metal elements and alloys not based on iron

 Most important nonferrous metals are aluminum, copper,

magnesium, nickel, titanium, and zinc, and their alloys

 Although not as strong as steels, certain nonferrous

alloys have corrosion resistance

 Many nonferrous metals have special properties other

than mechanical that make them ideal for applications in
which steel would not be suitable

Note 1 - 3 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Aluminum and Magnesium

 Aluminum (Al) and magnesium (Mg) are light metals

 They are often specified in engineering applications
for this feature
 Al has the essential characteristic of high corrosion
resistance in normal atmospheres
 Both elements are abundant on earth, aluminum on
land and magnesium in the sea
 Neither is easily extracted from their natural states

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 Aluminum Production

It is the most abundant metal (7% of the earth’s crust)

but one of the more energy intensive metals to refine.

Aluminum occurrence:
Bauxite : Al2O3·2H20

Note 1 - 5 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Aluminum Production
 Aluminum is manufactured in two phases: the
Bayer process of refining the bauxite ore to
obtain aluminum oxide, and the Hall-Heroult
process of smelting the aluminum oxide to
release pure aluminum.

Note 1 - 6 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Aluminum Production

 Principal ore is bauxite - mostly hydrated aluminum

oxide as monohydrate (Al2O3 ꞏ H2O) or trihydrate
(Al2O3 ꞏ 3H2O) + impurities such as silica and
oxides of iron and titanium.

 Extraction of Al from bauxite consists of:

 Washing and crushing the ore into fine powders
 Bayer process – conversion of bauxite into pure
alumina (Al2O3)
 Electrolysis – separation of alumina into aluminum
and oxygen gas (O2)

Note 1 - 7 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Aluminum Production Flow Chart

Note 1 - 8 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Major Steps in Alumina Refining

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 Bayer process

 The principal industrial

means of refining bauxite
to produce alumina
 Alumina must be purified
before it can be refined to
aluminum metal
 Bayer process:
 Bauxite is digested by washing with a hot solution
of sodium hydroxide, NaOH, at 175 °C
 It converts the alumina to aluminum hydroxide,
Al(OH)3 and the other components of bauxite do
not dissolve
Note 1 - 10 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Bayer process

 Bayer process (continue):

 The solution is clarified by filtering off the solid
impurities
 The mixture of solid impurities is called red mud
 Next, the hydroxide solution is cooled, and the
dissolved aluminum hydroxide precipitates as a
white, fluffy solid
 When then heated to 1050°C (calcined), the
aluminum hydroxide (Al2O3) decomposes to
alumina, giving off water vapor in the process

Note 1 - 11 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Bayer process

 Bayer process (continue):

 Finally, large amount of the alumina produced is
then subsequently smelted in the Hall-Héroult
process in order to produce aluminum

 This process produces nearly all the world's

alumina supply as an intermediate in aluminum
production.

Note 1 - 12 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Major Steps in Alumina Refining

 Wet grinding of the bauxite ore in rod mills, ball mills,

or semiautogenous grinding mills to produce fine
slurry.
 Digestion of the slurry by caustic soda (NaOH) at
strengths exceeding 170 g/L in vessels under
pressure at temperatures ranging from 145ºC to
265ºC depending on the type of bauxite being
processed.
 Separation and washing of insoluble residues,
termed “sand and mud”, from the process solution,
termed “green liquor”.
• Residues (known as red mud) are stored in residue
drying areas for disposal.
Note 1 - 13 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Major Steps in Alumina Refining

 Crystallization (precipitation) of aluminum trihydrate

from the sodium aluminate (NaAlO2) of green liquor,
leaving “spent liquor” containing primarily caustic
soda to be returned to digestion.

Al(OH)3 (solid) + NaOH (aqueous) NaAlO2 (aqueous) + 2H2O (liquid)

 Calcination of the aluminum trihydrate crystals at

approximately 1000ºC, driving off water molecules
and leaving the final product of anhydrous alumina.

2Al(OH)3  Al2O3 (solid) + 3H2O (liquid)

Note 1 - 14 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Hall-Héroult process

 Hall-Héroult process is
an electrolysis process
that extracts aluminum
out of alumina
(aluminum oxide).

 Overall cell reaction

Alumina + carbon =
aluminum + carbon
dioxide

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 Hall-Héroult process

 The Hall-Héroult process is the major industrial

process for the production of aluminum

 It is used all over the world and is the only method

of aluminum smelting currently used in the industry

 It involves dissolving alumina oxide (Al2O3) in a

molten path of cryolite (Na3AlF6)

 Aluminum oxide has a very high melting point (over

2000 °C) while cryolite (Na3AlF6) has a much lower
melting point

Note 1 - 16 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Hall-Héroult process

 The mixture is electrolyzed – subjecting solution to

direct current between the plates of an electrolyic
furnace

 This causes the liquid aluminum to be deposited at

the cathode as a precipitate, while the carbon
anode is oxidized to carbon dioxide

 Electrical source used by many smelters has a very

low voltage (typically 3-5 volts), but a considerable
amount of current (150,000 amperes) is drawn by
the circuit

Note 1 - 17 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Electrolyic furnace

Note 1 - 18 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Hall-Héroult process

 While solid cryolite is denser than solid aluminum at

room temperature, the liquid aluminum product is
denser than the molten cryolite, at about 1000 °C
 Liquid aluminum sinks to the bottom of the bath,
where it is periodically collected
 The top and sides of the bath are covered with a
crust of solid cryolite which acts as thermal
insulation
 Electrical resistance within the bath provides
sufficient heat to keep the cryolite molten.

Note 1 - 19 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Processing Ratio’s

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 General properties of aluminum

 High electrical and thermal conductivity

 Excellent corrosion resistance due to formation of a

hard thin oxide surface film

 Very ductile metal, noted for its formability

 Pure aluminum is relatively low in strength, but it

can be alloyed and heat treated to compete with
some steels, especially when weight is taken into
consideration

Note 1 - 21 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Lecture breakdown – Aluminum Production

 Groups of aluminum
 Designation scheme for aluminum
 Wrought aluminum alloys
 Cast aluminum alloys

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 Major groups of aluminum

 The two major groups of aluminum:

 Wrought Al-alloys
 Cast Al-alloys

 Wrought aluminum alloys are used in the shaping

processes: rolling, forging, extrusion, pressing,
stamping

 There are two principal groups of the wrought

aluminum alloys: non-heat-treatable alloys and
heat-treatable alloys

Note 1 - 23 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Designation scheme for aluminum

 Four-digit code number to identify composition

 The first digit indicates the major alloying element

 Classification number is most commonly referred to

as a series

Note 1 - 24 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Designation scheme for aluminum

 The 1000 series Aluminum alloy – unalloyed

aluminum
 The 2000 series contains copper as the major
alloying element
 Within each series there are different grades which
are classified using the 2nd, 3rd and 4th digit of the
series
 The 1145 has a minimum purity of 99.45% whereas
1200 has a minimum purity of 99.00%

Note 1 - 25 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Designation scheme for aluminum

 Each grade has different mechanical properties

from the others
 Two designations to distinguish wrought aluminums
from cast aluminums
 Difference is that a decimal point follows the third
digit for cast aluminums, no decimal point for
wrought product

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 Designations of wrought and cast
aluminum alloys (partial list)
Alloy Wrought Cast
group code code
Aluminum  99.0% purity 1XXX 1XX.X
Copper alloy 2XXX 2XX.X
Manganese alloy 3XXX
Silicon alloy 4XXX 4XX.X
Magnesium alloy 5XXX 5XX.X
Zinc alloy 7XXX 7XX.X
Tin alloy 8XX.X
Other alloy 8XXX 9XX.X

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 Wrought aluminum alloys

 Non-heat-treatable alloys cannot be strengthened

by heat treatment

 Alloys of 1xxx, 3xxx, 4xxx and 5xxx series are non-

heat-treatable

 The initial strength of these alloys is achieved due

to the hardening effect of the alloying elements:
manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), magnesium (Mg)

Note 1 - 28 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Wrought aluminum alloys

 They are ductile and moderately strong (depending

on the alloying elements concentration)

 Non-heat-treatable alloys are used for

manufacturing deep drawn parts, sheets, foil, tubes,
wire, extruded parts, pressure vessels.

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 Wrought aluminum alloys

 Heat-treatable alloys can be strengthened by heat

treatment

 Alloys of 2xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx series are heat-

treatable

 The initial strength of these alloys is achieved due

to the hardening effect of the alloying elements: Cu,
Si, Mg and Zn

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 Cast aluminum alloys

 Properties of aluminum and its alloys favorable for

casting applications
 Low melting point
 Good fluidity of most of the alloys
 Capability to control grain structure
 Good surface finish
 Low solubility of gases (except Hydrogen)
 Ability to be strengthened by heat treatment
(precipitation hardening)

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 Cast aluminum alloys

 Disadvantages of aluminum castings

 High shrinkage (4-8%) and susceptibility to shrinkage
defects (shrinkage porosity)
 High hydrogen solubility
 Susceptibility to hot cracking
 Low ductility

 The following casting methods are applicable for

casting aluminum alloys:
 Sand casting, permanent mold casting, die casting,
investment casting, centrifugal casting, squeeze
casting and continuous casting.

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 Classification of cast aluminum alloys

 First digit indicates the alloy group according to the

major alloying element
 Second two digits identify Al alloy or indicate the
alloy purity
 1xx.x - indicate the level of purity of the alloy - (150.0)
 2xx.x through 9xx.x - signify different alloys in the
group

 The last digit indicates the product form:

0 for casting
1 or 2 for ingot depending on chemical composition limits

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 Designation scheme for aluminum

 Properties of Al alloys are influenced by work

hardening and heat treatment, so temper must be
designated in addition to composition
 This designation is attached to the 4-digit code,
separated by a hyphen, to indicate treatment or no
treatment

 Temper treatments that specify strain hardening do

not apply to the cast alloys

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 Temper Designations for Aluminum
Alloys (Partial List)

Temper Description
F As fabricated - no special treatment
H Strain hardened (wrought aluminums)
O Annealed to relieve strain hardening
and improve ductility
T Thermal treatment to produce stable
tempers other than F, H, or O

Note 1 - 35 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production
 Manufacturing Processes for Metals

 Metals are shaped by all of the basic shaping

processes: casting, powder metallurgy,
deformation, and material removal
 In addition, metal parts are joined to form
assemblies by welding, brazing, soldering, and
mechanical fastening
 Heat treating is used to enhance properties
 Finishing processes (e.g., electroplating and
painting) are commonly used to improve
appearance of metal parts and/or to provide
corrosion protection

Note 1 - 36 UOB, Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Osama Al-Jamal, ©2019 Aluminum production