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  • Automotive Innovation - The Jaguar I-Pace is a fully electric model, which utilizes aluminum sheet from Novelis in its body and battery structures.

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    Alumobility Drives Automotive Innovation

    By Andrea Svendsen, Managing Editor. Alumobility is a new non-profit organization recently launched by Novelis and Constellium in January 2021. Acting as a global ecosystem, the organization fosters collaboration between leading aluminum manufacturers and downstream technology partners, with input from vehicle OEMs, in order to advance the adoption of aluminum body sheet in the automotive […]

  • Figure 2. Top image shows a very fine grained microstructure and the image in the bottom a very coarse grained one—both found on the same aluminum part made of EN AW 6061 aluminum alloy.

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    Introduction to Anodizing Aluminum

    By Dr. Anne Deacon Juhl, AluConsult and AnodizingSchool. Editor’s Note: Aluminum manufacturers are not always consistently satisfied with the surface quality of the anodized extrusion and sheet products returned from their anodizers. The anodized products may have patchy surfaces, color variations, or corrosion pits, causing rejects, higher cost, and frustration. Therefore, it is crucial that […]

  • An aluminum billet being loaded into the billet heater prior to extrusion at Benkam Alu Extrusions in Uzbekistan.

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    Benkam Launches Multi-Year Expansion to Increase Extrusion Capacity

    Benkam Alu Extrusions, owned by AKFA Group, is one of the major manufacturers of aluminum profiles in Central Asia. Located in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the company recently announced that it is launching a multi-year expansion project, which will more than double its aluminum extrusion production capabilities. This expansion is a part of the company’s overall strategic […]

  • Figure 5. Cross car beam made of AM50 magnesium alloy. (Source: Meridian Lightweight Technologies.)

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    IMA Launches New Magnesium LCA Study: Setting Sight on Lowering CO2 Emissions

    By Simone Ehrenberger, Institute for Vehicle Concepts, and Dr. Martin Tauber, IMA Achieving zero CO2 emission levels has been a major driver for sustainability goals around the world, with many governments and companies declaring ambitious goals for a circular economy through 2030 and beyond.1 For large, traditional primary metal or processing industries, such as magnesium, […]

  • Figure 2. Demolition and removal of SPL from an aluminum cell cathode.

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    The SPL Waste Management Challenge in Primary Aluminum

    By Alton Tabereaux, Contributing Editor. Spent potlining (SPL) disposal is one of the largest environmental waste management challenges confronting worldwide primary aluminum smelters due to its toxicity. The International Aluminium Institute (IAI) asserts that 1.6 million tons of SPL were generated from primary aluminum production in 2019,1 making it the second largest waste volume produced […]

  • aluminum ingot

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    An Overview of the ASI Standards Revision

    By Dr. Fiona Solomon and Thad Mermer, ASI. The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certification program, which includes the Performance Standard and the Chain of Custody Standard was launched in December 2017, following its development through an extensive multi-stakeholder consultation process. Currently, it is the only comprehensive voluntary sustainability standard initiative for the aluminum value chain. […]

  • Figure 1. The 45 MN, 10 inch direct press was designed with the demands of the automotive industry in mind.

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    Hydro Cressona Serves Automotive Industry with New Highly Automated Press Line

    By Andrea Svendsen, Managing Editor. The Hydro Extrusion North America facility in Cressona, PA, has been in operation since 1942, when it was commissioned by the U.S. government to support World War II efforts. Today, the over 1.6 million sq ft site has ten direct and indirect extrusion presses, ranging in sizes from 10 to […]