Alcoa And How Aluminum Went From Precious Metal to Changing The World
When people think of materials that changed the world, one that rarely comes to their minds is aluminum - the cheap metal used in soft drink cans.
Yet, aluminum wasn’t always like this. Napoleon had envisioned aluminum as the perfect material for weapons and armor due to the materials high strength to weight ratio. But he eventually gave up because the metal was so difficult to refine. Instead, he had that small supply of aluminum melted down and made into cutlery. However, only the most esteemed guests got to use this precious cutlery. The lower ranked ones had to make do with the less expensive gold pieces.
Interestingly, aluminum is an abundant metal making up around 8% of the earth’s crust. Its historical rarity and high price was due to how hard it was to refine. That’s where Alcoa came along - they were the first mass producer of aluminum and they caused the materials price to fall considerably.
The first industrial production of aluminum was established in 1856 by French chemist Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville and companions. While they found ways to make more of it, the aluminum produced wasn’t of great purity and their product differed in properties by sample.
Things changed in 1886 when French engineer Paul Héroult and American engineer Charles Martin Hall pioneered a new process now known as the Hall–Héroult process. This process converts alumina alloy into metal through electrolysis and ended up drastically reducing its cost. Working with his sister Julia in a shed attached to the family home in Oberlin, Ohio, Hall discovered the gold standard of aluminum production. Today, the Hall-Héroult Process is the one method by which every aluminum producer in the world operates.
During the first half of the 20th century, the real price for aluminum fell from $14,000 per ton in 1900 to $2,340 in 1948 (in 1998 US Dollars). In 1900, just 8,000 tonnes of aluminum were produced but 100 years later 24.5 million tonnes were produced and in 2016, an estimated 57.6 million tonnes were produced. Much of this was due to continuous improvements by Alcoa to reduce the production cost and innovations which gave the metal more uses.
One of the most significant of such uses was in the aerospace industry. The Wright Brothers worked tirelessly to reduce the weight of their aircraft to make it light enough to get off the ground. This was seen in the construction of not only their plane’s mainframe but the all important engine as well. No engine existed at this time that matched their power to weight requirements so had to build their own. In doing so, they ended up becoming the first in history to use aluminum as a building material for an engine. They even painted the engine black so their competitors couldn’t see that the engine was built using aluminum.
Since then, aluminum has grown in strides and bounds for the aerospace industry. Gone are materials like wood and canvas in the construction of aircraft. Due to aluminum’s high strength to weight ratio, it became the preferred material for most of the 20th century. Much of this is due to the brilliant engineers and researchers at Alcoa - where 90% of aluminum alloys used in the aerospace sector was pioneered. Without this, flying would have likely remained a niche industry with limited impact until carbon fiber became more accessible. Most other materials such as steel were simply too heavy for big jumbo jets.
But aluminum isn’t just used for big projects. Before stainless steel came along, kettles were made from aluminum. Introduced in 1895, Alcoa entered the home cookware market with light, sturdy, no-rust tea kettles. When Stainless Steel was invented, it proved to be an overall superior product.
The company then pivoted. Aside from aluminum cans, most probably have aluminum foil at home. This was introduced by Alcoa in 1910 and it revolutionized modern homes. Reflecting heat and keeping foods cooler and fresher, it became a household staple.
Even though it’s taken for granted now, before the 1950’s, aluminum cans didn’t have pull tabs and needed can openers. Then in 1952, Alcoa partnered with the Pittsburgh Brewing Company to introduce pull tabs on cans. Today, because of innovations like the pull tab, and because of aluminum's recyclability, the canned beverage market is virtually 100% aluminum.
More recently, the company has again partnered with Pittsburgh Brewing's iconic Iron City Beer brand to launch aluminum bottles. Aluminum bottles are more durable, keep drinks colder longer and recycle better than glass bottles. This has yet to become mainstream but in the future, aluminum could supplement glass in beverage production.
One of the main disadvantages of aluminum is how energy intensive it is to produce. Roughly 5% of the electricity generated in the United States is used for aluminum production. In 1979, Alcoa began aluminum recycling. It helped support the company’s goal of enhancing sustainability and costed less as well. Aluminum is infinitely recyclable, and recycling uses 95% less energy than it takes to make aluminum from raw ore.
Speaking of energy, 13% of the world’s aluminum is used by the electricity sector. Even though copper is a better conductor, most main overhead power lines use aluminum. An aluminum wire needs to be one and a half times thicker than a copper wire to carry the same current. Despite this, aluminum wires are still two times lighter. This decreases the load on transmission towers/electricity pylons thereby allowing the span between them to increase dramatically. As you can imagine, this saves a vast amount of money on construction.
Finally, aluminum is used extensively in buildings where 23% of aluminum goes towards. The Empire State Building was the world’s first skyscraper to use the material extensively. Due to the metal's natural corrosion resistance and light weight, it proved the perfect material for exterior framing and roofing.
With all these uses, it’s clear to see that without this metal - once more precious than gold - our world would be very different.
