ALUMINIUM 2014 Blog

The production of and demand for aluminium is again growing worldwide. After the decline during the financial and economic crisis, global production will already exceed pre-crisis levels this year. In many branches of industry the lightweight and sustainable material is the first choice.

The material’s potential has not been exhausted by far as will be demonstrated in September at ALUMINIUM 2010 in Essen. From 14 bis 16 September the world’s biggest meeting place for the industry will bring together aluminium producers, processors, providers of technologies and equipment for the production, further processing and finishing of aluminium, as well as the representatives of the application industries. „Between Innovation and Environment“ is the motto under which 890 companies from 45 countries will present themselves this year. More than half of the exhibitors come from abroad. The number of exhibitors from the Middle East, in particular, has grown this year. The organisers Reed Exhibitions and their partners GDA Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie and European Aluminium Association (EAA) expect visitors from more than 100 countries.

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Aluminium is still the material of choice when it comes to building the fuselages of modern passenger aircraft – although carbon and glass fibre-reinforced plastics are now increasingly being used.

Aluminium is still the classic lightweight material in aircraft construction, although the proportion of its use is falling. Aluminium alloys accounted for nearly 80 percent of the material used in the components of the Airbus A320 whereas the proportion in the A340 has fallen to roughly 70 percent – largely due to the increased use of fibre-reinforced composite materials. The dominance of aluminium alloy as the classic lightweight material is set to be challenged as its use drops to below 60 percent in Airbus aircraft in the future. Over 20 percent of the parts will be made from fibre-reinforced composites.

The following example shows how important weight reduction can be, especially in the aerospace industry: The Airbus A310, which is used for short-haul flights, is in the air roughly 3,000 hours per year. If its structural weight is reduced by just one percent, this results in savings of more than 600 tonnes of fuel per year per aircraft. And the savings are considerably greater in the new generation of wide-bodied aircraft such as the Airbus A380, designed for long-haul flights. The A380 itself weighs 277 tonnes, rising to 560 tonnes when fully loaded.

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The solar industry is booming. A fact which is also benefiting the German aluminium processing industry, as aluminium serves as the basis of numerous applications in the solar sector. Façade constructions, substructures for solar modules, entire component systems applied to the shell of the building or advanced solar applications made from rolled aluminium – these are just a few of the numerous areas of application which the lightweight material has conquered.

Roughly 45,000 tonnes of aluminium products are currently being used in solar technology in Germany each year – and demand is steadily rising. Many aluminium companies have responded very quickly to the growing market for solar technology. The Swedish company Sapa, the world market leader in the field of extruded aluminium profiles, is offering processed aluminium profile components and a brand new modular solar frame system. This permits customers to achieve potential cost savings of up to 15 percent through the intelligent integration of a wide variety of functions – both for thin-film and crystalline modules.

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