Aluminum 3104: Possible Materials For A Pop Can

The aluminum 3104-H19 alloy also has some other important properties that make it a suitable material for pop cans. One of the most important properties this alloy has is corrosion resistance. This means that the aluminum alloy can hold a liquid for extended periods of time with no corrosion occurring. If the aluminum alloy was not corrosion resistance, the liquid contained inside would corrode the inner walls of the pop can and lead to eventual fail of the pop can. Due to the fact that this aluminum alloy is corrosion resistance makes the alloy the ideal material for a pop can. Another property of the alloy that is key is its lightweight construction. The aluminum alloy is rolled into very thin sheets, making the mass of the

Many times the two needed properties are strength and weight reduction, both of which is often found in a form of aluminum alloy. Aluminum is made of grains which are interlocked when the metal is cooled, with each grain composing of rows of atoms in an ordered lattice arrangement. Sometimes gaps, called dislocations, form in the lattice between atoms, when stress is applied, these dislocations are pushed to the boundaries of the grain. Dislocations increase the ductility and malleability of pure Aluminum, but when foreign elements such as Manganese are added into the metal, it prevents the gaps from shifting in the lattice. This reduces the ductility and malleability of the metal since the atoms no longer have the free movement within the lattice arrangement, but the strength of the metal is increased. The most common grain boundary plane orientation is (1 1 1), there are instances when the boundaries have higher populations when terminated by higher index planes. This property of aluminum allows it be used as a more suitable replacement for many materials that could otherwise be used

Instead aluminum is a product of a manufacturing process that was first started in 1825. Aluminum metals are originally made from an ore called bauxite, typically found in the soil of tropical and subtropical regions. This ore is extracted into alumina by the Bayer process, which involves dissolving the bauxite in a caustic soda solution which is filtered to remove insoluble particles. The soda solution undergoes precipitation to obtain aluminum hydroxide, which is then put through calcination to obtain aluminum oxide, or alumina. That alumina is then smelted into aluminum metal by the Hall-Heroult process. The Hall-Heroult process consists of dissolving the alumina in a cryolite bath inside of a carbon lined pot, carbon anodes are then inserted into the upper half of the bath and an electrical current passes through the bath and anodes. The oxygen atoms from the alumina separate and combine with the carbon anodes, leaving behind the molten aluminum which is then formed into ingots. It is important to control the amount of alloying elements added to the molten aluminum, or characteristics such as the corrosion resistance, conductivity, ductility, malleability, and strength will be adversely