Aluminum City Terrace (also referred to as ACT ) is a housing development located in New Kensington , near Pittsburgh . Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer designed the complex during their relatively short period as collaborative partners after receiving a commission from the FWA . In the United States, their partnership mostly produced single-family residences.
127-658: The complex was originally designed as affordable housing for workers in nearby defense plants. These workers were mostly employed by Alcoa , an aluminum conglomerate headquartered in Pittsburgh. The complex originally contained 250 residential units, an elementary school, and a community center. The Modern design of the complex proved controversial, and local residents opposed the construction. The FWA commissioned Modernist architects such as Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Oscar Stonorov , and Richard J. Neutra to provide "modern" housing for workers and low-income families throughout
254-491: A precipitate of aluminium hydroxide , Al(OH) 3 , forms. This is useful for clarification of water, as the precipitate nucleates on suspended particles in the water, hence removing them. Increasing the pH even further leads to the hydroxide dissolving again as aluminate , [Al(H 2 O) 2 (OH) 4 ] , is formed. Aluminium hydroxide forms both salts and aluminates and dissolves in acid and alkali, as well as on fusion with acidic and basic oxides. This behavior of Al(OH) 3
381-510: A strategic alliance with China's largest aluminum producer, at its Pingguo facility; however, it was unsuccessful. Alcoa sold their stake in Chalco on September 12, 2007, for around $ 2 billion. In 2004, Alcoa's specialty chemicals business was sold to two private equity firms led by Rhône Group for an enterprise value of $ 342 million, which included the assumption of debt and other unfunded obligations. Rhône Group then changed
508-525: A "less classical sound". This name persisted: although the -um spelling was occasionally used in Britain, the American scientific language used -ium from the start. Most scientists throughout the world used -ium in the 19th century; and it was entrenched in several other European languages, such as French , German , and Dutch . In 1828, an American lexicographer, Noah Webster , entered only
635-552: A 500,000 tonne per year refinery that processes bauxite into alumina. They have continued to upgrade the plant through the years, and it is now capable of 1,425,000 tonnes per year. In 1988, the Jamaican government gained a 50% share in the subsidiary and renamed the operation to Jamalco, Alcoa being the managing partner. Expansion of the operation in 2007 resulted in Alcoa owning 55% of the operation. Alcoa continues to mine bauxite in
762-533: A Superfund Unilateral Order on December 31, 1998, requiring Alcoa to excavate, treat and dispose of the contaminated wetlands sediments. In April 2003, Alcoa Inc. agreed to spend an estimated $ 330 million to install a new coal-fired power plant with state-of-the-art pollution controls to eliminate the vast majority of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions from the power plant at Alcoa's aluminum production facility in Rockdale , Texas. The settlement
889-499: A Swedish chemist, Jöns Jacob Berzelius , in which the name aluminium is given to the element that would be synthesized from alum. (Another article in the same journal issue also refers to the metal whose oxide is the basis of sapphire , i.e. the same metal, as to aluminium .) A January 1811 summary of one of Davy's lectures at the Royal Society mentioned the name aluminium as a possibility. The next year, Davy published
1016-561: A chemistry textbook in which he used the spelling aluminum . Both spellings have coexisted since. Their usage is currently regional: aluminum dominates in the United States and Canada; aluminium is prevalent in the rest of the English-speaking world. In 1812, British scientist Thomas Young wrote an anonymous review of Davy's book, in which he proposed the name aluminium instead of aluminum , which he thought had
1143-823: A company to bring his process to market; the three founded Alcoa as the Pittsburgh Reduction Company , which expanded quickly. Hunt died in 1898 after fighting in the Spanish–American War . The company changed its name to the Aluminum Company of America in 1907. Alcoa increased production by 40% during World War I and was an essential supplier of aluminum in World War II. In the 2000s, Alcoa purchased numerous competitors, including Reynolds Group Holdings (makers of Reynolds Wrap). On November 1, 2016, Alcoa Inc. split into two entities:
1270-586: A controversial dam project exclusively dedicated to supplying electricity to this smelter. The Fjarðaál smelter in eastern Iceland was completed in June 2007 and brought into full operation the following April. The plant processes 940 tons of aluminum a day, with a capacity of 346,000 metric tons a year, making it Alcoa's second largest capacity smelter. For power, the plant relies on the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant , constructed and operated by
1397-479: A great affinity towards oxygen , forming a protective layer of oxide on the surface when exposed to air. Aluminium visually resembles silver , both in its color and in its great ability to reflect light. It is soft, nonmagnetic , and ductile . It has one stable isotope, Al, which is highly abundant, making aluminium the twelfth-most common element in the universe. The radioactivity of Al leads to it being used in radiometric dating . Chemically, aluminium
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#17327759248601524-519: A new one called Alcoa Corporation, which is engaged in the mining and manufacture of raw aluminum, and the renaming of Alcoa Inc. to Arconic Inc. , which processes aluminum and other metals. Alcoa has been criticized for its lax environmental record, but it no longer ranks highly as one of the worst polluters in the United States. In 1886, Charles Martin Hall , a graduate of Oberlin College , discovered
1651-441: A probable cause for it being soft with a low melting point and low electrical resistivity . Aluminium metal has an appearance ranging from silvery white to dull gray depending on its surface roughness . Aluminium mirrors are the most reflective of all metal mirrors for near ultraviolet and far infrared light. It is also one of the most reflective for light in the visible spectrum, nearly on par with silver in this respect, and
1778-683: A process termed passivation . Because of its general resistance to corrosion, aluminium is one of the few metals that retains silvery reflectance in finely powdered form, making it an important component of silver-colored paints. Aluminium is not attacked by oxidizing acids because of its passivation. This allows aluminium to be used to store reagents such as nitric acid , concentrated sulfuric acid , and some organic acids. In hot concentrated hydrochloric acid , aluminium reacts with water with evolution of hydrogen, and in aqueous sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide at room temperature to form aluminates —protective passivation under these conditions
1905-525: A refractory material, and in ceramics , as well as being the starting material for the electrolytic production of aluminium. Sapphire and ruby are impure corundum contaminated with trace amounts of other metals. The two main oxide-hydroxides, AlO(OH), are boehmite and diaspore . There are three main trihydroxides: bayerite , gibbsite , and nordstrandite , which differ in their crystalline structure ( polymorphs ). Many other intermediate and related structures are also known. Most are produced from ores by
2032-537: A reminder of the environmental dimensions of industrial operations. Alcoa Road's transition from an access route for mining to a gateway for environmental observation underscores the evolving relationship between industry and conservation. Alcoa's affiliate in Ghana , the Volta Aluminum Company , was completely closed between May 2003 and early 2006 due to problems with its electricity supply. Alcoa
2159-528: A remote area 250 km north of Quebec City . Infrastructure was necessary to support the workforce required by the aluminum plant, so the company funded the construction of schools, parks, playgrounds, and medical facilities. Davis was named chairman of Alcoa's board of directors in 1928 and remained in that role for thirty years until his retirement. In 1938, the Justice Department charged Alcoa with illegal monopolization and demanded that
2286-694: A settlement with Hall's former employer, and while its patents were in force, the company was the only legal supplier of aluminum in the United States . By 1902, New Kensington consisted of 173,000 sq. feet on 15 acres with 276 employees. The company operated hydropower and reduction plants in Niagara Falls, NY (1895), Shawinigan Falls, Quebec (Northern Aluminum Company), mining operations in Bauxite, AR (1901), and reduction facilities in East St. Louis, IL (1902). "The Aluminum Company of America" became
2413-675: A smelting plant in Badin, North Carolina from 1917 to 2007 and continued a hydroelectric power operation there until February 1, 2017, when the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project was sold to Cube Hydro. Aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English ) is a chemical element ; it has symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than that of other common metals , about one-third that of steel . It has
2540-474: A stable noble gas configuration. Accordingly, the combined first three ionization energies of aluminium are far lower than the fourth ionization energy alone. Such an electron configuration is shared with the other well-characterized members of its group, boron , gallium , indium , and thallium ; it is also expected for nihonium . Aluminium can surrender its three outermost electrons in many chemical reactions (see below ). The electronegativity of aluminium
2667-484: A stigma developed around the complex, with some referring to it as "the project" due to the government's involvement in its construction. However, the housing did successfully foster a sense of community, partially due to programming at the now-defunct community center. Both residents of ACT and New Kensington worried that the end of World War II would mean the sale of the complex to a private company, or its conversion to low-income, government-supported housing. Residents of
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#17327759248602794-820: A variety of wet processes using acid and base. Heating the hydroxides leads to formation of corundum. These materials are of central importance to the production of aluminium and are themselves extremely useful. Some mixed oxide phases are also very useful, such as spinel (MgAl 2 O 4 ), Na-β-alumina (NaAl 11 O 17 ), and tricalcium aluminate (Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 , an important mineral phase in Portland cement ). The only stable chalcogenides under normal conditions are aluminium sulfide (Al 2 S 3 ), selenide (Al 2 Se 3 ), and telluride (Al 2 Te 3 ). All three are prepared by direct reaction of their elements at about 1,000 °C (1,800 °F) and quickly hydrolyze completely in water to yield aluminium hydroxide and
2921-575: A way of purifying bauxite to yield alumina, now known as the Bayer process , in 1889. Modern production of aluminium is based on the Bayer and Hall–Héroult processes. As large-scale production caused aluminium prices to drop, the metal became widely used in jewelry, eyeglass frames, optical instruments, tableware, and foil , and other everyday items in the 1890s and early 20th century. Aluminium's ability to form hard yet light alloys with other metals provided
3048-734: Is Al : while it was present along with stable Al in the interstellar medium from which the Solar System formed, having been produced by stellar nucleosynthesis as well, its half-life is only 717,000 years and therefore a detectable amount has not survived since the formation of the planet. However, minute traces of Al are produced from argon in the atmosphere by spallation caused by cosmic ray protons. The ratio of Al to Be has been used for radiodating of geological processes over 10 to 10 year time scales, in particular transport, deposition, sediment storage, burial times, and erosion. Most meteorite scientists believe that
3175-434: Is Al. Al was present in the early Solar System with abundance of 0.005% relative to Al but its half-life of 728,000 years is too short for any original nuclei to survive; Al is therefore extinct . Unlike for Al, hydrogen burning is the primary source of Al, with the nuclide emerging after a nucleus of Mg catches a free proton. However, the trace quantities of Al that do exist are the most common gamma ray emitter in
3302-407: Is paramagnetic and thus essentially unaffected by static magnetic fields. The high electrical conductivity, however, means that it is strongly affected by alternating magnetic fields through the induction of eddy currents . Aluminium combines characteristics of pre- and post-transition metals. Since it has few available electrons for metallic bonding, like its heavier group 13 congeners, it has
3429-483: Is 1.61 (Pauling scale). A free aluminium atom has a radius of 143 pm . With the three outermost electrons removed, the radius shrinks to 39 pm for a 4-coordinated atom or 53.5 pm for a 6-coordinated atom. At standard temperature and pressure , aluminium atoms (when not affected by atoms of other elements) form a face-centered cubic crystal system bound by metallic bonding provided by atoms' outermost electrons; hence aluminium (at these conditions)
3556-418: Is a post-transition metal in the boron group ; as is common for the group, aluminium forms compounds primarily in the +3 oxidation state . The aluminium cation Al is small and highly charged ; as such, it has more polarizing power , and bonds formed by aluminium have a more covalent character. The strong affinity of aluminium for oxygen leads to the common occurrence of its oxides in nature. Aluminium
3683-660: Is a major owner of the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée through Halco Mining , together with Rio Tinto Alcan and the Guinean government. Guinea is the second global producer of bauxite and it is said to have half of the world's reserves. In 2005, Alcoa began construction in Iceland on Alcoa Fjarðaál , a state-of-the-art aluminum smelter and the company's first greenfield smelter in more than 20 years, albeit under heavy criticism by local and international NGOs related to
3810-548: Is a metal. This crystal system is shared by many other metals, such as lead and copper ; the size of a unit cell of aluminium is comparable to that of those other metals. The system, however, is not shared by the other members of its group: boron has ionization energies too high to allow metallization, thallium has a hexagonal close-packed structure, and gallium and indium have unusual structures that are not close-packed like those of aluminium and thallium. The few electrons that are available for metallic bonding in aluminium are
3937-522: Is almost never found in the elemental state; instead it is found in oxides or silicates. Feldspars , the most common group of minerals in the Earth's crust, are aluminosilicates. Aluminium also occurs in the minerals beryl , cryolite , garnet , spinel , and turquoise . Impurities in Al 2 O 3 , such as chromium and iron , yield the gemstones ruby and sapphire , respectively. Native aluminium metal
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4064-405: Is also easily machined and cast . Aluminium is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor , having around 60% the conductivity of copper , both thermal and electrical, while having only 30% of copper's density. Aluminium is capable of superconductivity , with a superconducting critical temperature of 1.2 kelvin and a critical magnetic field of about 100 gauss (10 milliteslas ). It
4191-409: Is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum . Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum, and alumina combined, through its active and growing participation in all major aspects of the industry: technology, mining, refining, smelting, fabricating, and recycling. Alcoa emerged in 1888 as
4318-553: Is extremely rare and can only be found as a minor phase in low oxygen fugacity environments, such as the interiors of certain volcanoes. Native aluminium has been reported in cold seeps in the northeastern continental slope of the South China Sea . It is possible that these deposits resulted from bacterial reduction of tetrahydroxoaluminate Al(OH) 4 . Although aluminium is a common and widespread element, not all aluminium minerals are economically viable sources of
4445-438: Is found on Earth primarily in rocks in the crust , where it is the third-most abundant element , after oxygen and silicon , rather than in the mantle , and virtually never as the free metal . It is obtained industrially by mining bauxite , a sedimentary rock rich in aluminium minerals. The discovery of aluminium was announced in 1825 by Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted . The first industrial production of aluminium
4572-536: Is greatly reduced by aqueous salts, particularly in the presence of dissimilar metals. Aluminium reacts with most nonmetals upon heating, forming compounds such as aluminium nitride (AlN), aluminium sulfide (Al 2 S 3 ), and the aluminium halides (AlX 3 ). It also forms a wide range of intermetallic compounds involving metals from every group on the periodic table. The vast majority of compounds, including all aluminium-containing minerals and all commercially significant aluminium compounds, feature aluminium in
4699-492: Is in fact more basic than that of gallium. Aluminium also bears minor similarities to the metalloid boron in the same group: AlX 3 compounds are valence isoelectronic to BX 3 compounds (they have the same valence electronic structure), and both behave as Lewis acids and readily form adducts . Additionally, one of the main motifs of boron chemistry is regular icosahedral structures, and aluminium forms an important part of many icosahedral quasicrystal alloys, including
4826-500: Is negligible. Aqua regia also dissolves aluminium. Aluminium is corroded by dissolved chlorides , such as common sodium chloride , which is why household plumbing is never made from aluminium. The oxide layer on aluminium is also destroyed by contact with mercury due to amalgamation or with salts of some electropositive metals. As such, the strongest aluminium alloys are less corrosion-resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed copper , and aluminium's corrosion resistance
4953-521: Is not as important. It is a polymer with the formula (AlH 3 ) n , in contrast to the corresponding boron hydride that is a dimer with the formula (BH 3 ) 2 . Aluminium's per-particle abundance in the Solar System is 3.15 ppm (parts per million). It is the twelfth most abundant of all elements and third most abundant among the elements that have odd atomic numbers, after hydrogen and nitrogen. The only stable isotope of aluminium, Al,
5080-724: Is now managed locally and renamed Westfield Industrial Park. Several of the large buildings are leased out to local businesses. Alcoa operates bauxite mines, alumina refineries, and aluminum smelters through Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC), a joint venture between Alumina Limited and Alcoa. Alcoa operates two bauxite mines in Western Australia—the Huntly and Willowdale mines. Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals owns and operates three alumina refineries in Western Australia : Kwinana, Pinjarra , and Wagerup . The Wagerup expansion plans were put on hold due to
5207-416: Is quite soft and lacking in strength. In most applications various aluminium alloys are used instead because of their higher strength and hardness. The yield strength of pure aluminium is 7–11 MPa , while aluminium alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa. Aluminium is ductile , with a percent elongation of 50-70%, and malleable allowing it to be easily drawn and extruded . It
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5334-422: Is surrounded by six fluorine atoms in a distorted octahedral arrangement, with each fluorine atom being shared between the corners of two octahedra. Such {AlF 6 } units also exist in complex fluorides such as cryolite , Na 3 AlF 6 . AlF 3 melts at 1,290 °C (2,354 °F) and is made by reaction of aluminium oxide with hydrogen fluoride gas at 700 °C (1,300 °F). With heavier halides,
5461-547: Is termed amphoterism and is characteristic of weakly basic cations that form insoluble hydroxides and whose hydrated species can also donate their protons. One effect of this is that aluminium salts with weak acids are hydrolyzed in water to the aquated hydroxide and the corresponding nonmetal hydride: for example, aluminium sulfide yields hydrogen sulfide . However, some salts like aluminium carbonate exist in aqueous solution but are unstable as such; and only incomplete hydrolysis takes place for salts with strong acids, such as
5588-416: Is that of the preceding noble gas , whereas those of its heavier congeners gallium , indium , thallium , and nihonium also include a filled d-subshell and in some cases a filled f-subshell. Hence, the inner electrons of aluminium shield the valence electrons almost completely, unlike those of aluminium's heavier congeners. As such, aluminium is the most electropositive metal in its group, and its hydroxide
5715-433: Is the eighteenth most abundant nucleus in the universe. It is created almost entirely after fusion of carbon in massive stars that will later become Type II supernovas : this fusion creates Mg, which upon capturing free protons and neutrons, becomes aluminium. Some smaller quantities of Al are created in hydrogen burning shells of evolved stars, where Mg can capture free protons. Essentially all aluminium now in existence
5842-411: Is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of the abundance of these salts, the potential for a biological role for them is of interest, and studies are ongoing. Of aluminium isotopes, only Al is stable. This situation is common for elements with an odd atomic number. It is the only primordial aluminium isotope, i.e. the only one that has existed on Earth in its current form since
5969-608: The 2008 Global Financial Crisis . In January 2024, Alcoa announced it would cease alumina production at its Kwinana refinery that year. Two aluminum smelters are also operated in the state of Victoria at Portland and Point Henry ; the Point Henry smelter was scheduled to be closed in August 2014. Alcoa Australia Rolled Products, a 100% Alcoa Inc. venture, operates two rolling mills. The Point Henry Rolling Mill in Victoria and
6096-731: The Carl Mackley Houses , in Philadelphia. Due to American involvement in World War II , strains were placed on housing near industrial sites. The Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Division of the FWA assessed the availability of housing for defense-related workers. In areas where production might be threatened by scarce labor due to housing shortages, the DDH made recommendations that housing be built. Based on recommendations by
6223-555: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). AWA will pay the DoJ $ 223 million in five equal installments over the next four years, bringing the company's total bill for the scandal to $ 384 million. In June 2016, Alcoa Inc. announced plans to split itself into two companies: Alcoa Inc would be renamed as Arconic and would take over the business of designing and building processed metal parts, primarily for
6350-455: The Friedel–Crafts reactions . Aluminium trichloride has major industrial uses involving this reaction, such as in the manufacture of anthraquinones and styrene ; it is also often used as the precursor for many other aluminium compounds and as a reagent for converting nonmetal fluorides into the corresponding chlorides (a transhalogenation reaction ). Aluminium forms one stable oxide with
6477-475: The London Metal Exchange , the oldest industrial metal exchange in the world, in 1978. The output continued to grow: the annual production of aluminium exceeded 50,000,000 metric tons in 2013. The real price for aluminium declined from $ 14,000 per metric ton in 1900 to $ 2,340 in 1948 (in 1998 United States dollars). Extraction and processing costs were lowered over technological progress and
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#17327759248606604-715: The Rank Group for $ 2.7 billion in 2008. In 2000, Alcoa also purchased Cordant Technologies Inc. for $ 57 a share in cash, or $ 2.3 billion, and assumed $ 685 million of Cordant's debt for a total transaction value of $ 2.9 billion. Cordant's divisions included Huck Fasteners, Jacobson Mfg. Co., Continental/Midland Group, its 85% interest in Howmet International Inc. , and Thiokol Corporation . In 2001, Alcoa sold Thiokol for $ 2.9 billion to Alliant Techsystems (ATK) . Alcoa purchased an 8% stake of Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) in 2001. It tried to form
6731-475: The aluminum spelling in his American Dictionary of the English Language . In the 1830s, the -um spelling gained usage in the United States; by the 1860s, it had become the more common spelling there outside science. In 1892, Hall used the -um spelling in his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all
6858-423: The chemical formula Al 2 O 3 , commonly called alumina . It can be found in nature in the mineral corundum , α-alumina; there is also a γ-alumina phase. Its crystalline form, corundum, is very hard ( Mohs hardness 9), has a high melting point of 2,045 °C (3,713 °F), has very low volatility, is chemically inert, and a good electrical insulator, it is often used in abrasives (such as toothpaste), as
6985-551: The interstellar gas ; if the original Al were still present, gamma ray maps of the Milky Way would be brighter. Overall, the Earth is about 1.59% aluminium by mass (seventh in abundance by mass). Aluminium occurs in greater proportion in the Earth's crust than in the universe at large. This is because aluminium easily forms the oxide and becomes bound into rocks and stays in the Earth's crust , while less reactive metals sink to
7112-526: The 5th century BCE. The ancients are known to have used alum as a dyeing mordant and for city defense. After the Crusades , alum, an indispensable good in the European fabric industry, was a subject of international commerce; it was imported to Europe from the eastern Mediterranean until the mid-15th century. The nature of alum remained unknown. Around 1530, Swiss physician Paracelsus suggested alum
7239-472: The Al–Zn–Mg class. Aluminium has a high chemical affinity to oxygen, which renders it suitable for use as a reducing agent in the thermite reaction. A fine powder of aluminium reacts explosively on contact with liquid oxygen ; under normal conditions, however, aluminium forms a thin oxide layer (~5 nm at room temperature) that protects the metal from further corrosion by oxygen, water, or dilute acid,
7366-611: The Defense Housing Division and approval by President Roosevelt , the FWA commissioned Aluminum City Terrace as part of a plan to bring some 5000 new units to Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. An increase in employees at plants near New Kensington had created a particularly accute housing shortage, with vacancy rates as low as 0.6%, necessitating new units. Alcoa, New Kensington's primary employer, expressed skepticism over FWA plans for Aluminum City Terrace due to fears
7493-585: The Jamaican parishes of Clarendon and Manchester, while competitors' operations occur in nearby parishes. In the 1970s, Alcoa negotiated with the Dominican Republic government concerning its bauxite mining operations. The U.S. Department of State expressed concerns that the Dominican Republic might follow Jamaica's lead in imposing higher taxes on Alcoa's operations. This period was marked by intense discussions and negotiations regarding
7620-536: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice over charges of bribing Bahraini officials. Under the settlement terms, they will pay the SEC $ 175 million to settle the charges. To resolve the criminal claims with the DoJ, Alcoa World Alumina (AWA, a company within Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals) is pleading guilty to one count of violating the anti-bribery provisions of
7747-554: The United States and Europe produced aluminum at the time. In 1887, Hall agreed to try his process at the Electric Smelting and Aluminum Company plant in Lockport, New York . Still, it was not used, and Hall left after one year, teaming up with Alfred E. Hunt to form a new company. After graduating from Amherst College in 1888, Arthur Vining Davis joined the new venture because Arthur's father knew Alfred Hunt. At
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#17327759248607874-418: The United States dollar, and alumina prices. The BRIC countries' combined share in primary production and primary consumption grew substantially in the first decade of the 21st century. China is accumulating an especially large share of the world's production thanks to an abundance of resources, cheap energy, and governmental stimuli; it also increased its consumption share from 2% in 1972 to 40% in 2010. In
8001-514: The United States, Western Europe, and Japan, most aluminium was consumed in transportation, engineering, construction, and packaging. In 2021, prices for industrial metals such as aluminium have soared to near-record levels as energy shortages in China drive up costs for electricity. The names aluminium and aluminum are derived from the word alumine , an obsolete term for alumina , the primary naturally occurring oxide of aluminium . Alumine
8128-500: The United States. This focus on Modernist and Internationalist architects was colored by the hope that the developments, which included then-rare shared amenities such as play areas for children, laundries, and sports facilities, would foster a sense of community, and render more traditional urban and suburban arrangements (referred to as "isolated") unappealing. Beyond ACT, examples of such housing include Techwood Homes , in Atlanta, and
8255-589: The Yennora Rolling Mill in N.S.W. have a combined rolling capacity of approx. 200,000 tonnes. Alcoa uses 12,600 GWh, or 15% of Victoria's electricity annually. Alcoa's Western Australian Wagerup plant has a troubled history in the context of claims that pollution from the plant has harmed the health of members of the adjacent local community. Alcoa announced it would acquire Alumina for $ 2.2 billion in an all-stock deal in February 2024. As part of
8382-722: The York Oil federal Superfund site in Moira, New York , in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency. The site, a former waste oil recycling storage facility, accepted waste oil from several companies, including Alcoa. The facility was improperly managed and operated, and as a result, soils on the York Oil Property and nearby wetlands sediments and groundwater were contaminated. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued
8509-578: The aluminium atoms have tetrahedral four-coordination and the other half have trigonal bipyramidal five-coordination. Four pnictides – aluminium nitride (AlN), aluminium phosphide (AlP), aluminium arsenide (AlAs), and aluminium antimonide (AlSb) – are known. They are all III-V semiconductors isoelectronic to silicon and germanium , all of which but AlN have the zinc blende structure. All four can be made by high-temperature (and possibly high-pressure) direct reaction of their component elements. Aluminium alloys well with most other metals (with
8636-404: The automotive and aerospace industries; a new company, Alcoa Corporation, would be set up and spun out of the remainder of Alcoa Inc. and retain the Alcoa name. Alcoa Corp. would continue the mining, smelting, and refining of raw aluminum. The split was completed on November 1, 2016. In February 1999, Alcoa cleaned soils and sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and lead at
8763-548: The brainchild of Charles Martin Hall , with the funding of Alfred E. Hunt and Arthur Vining Davis . Alcoa was the first mass producer of aluminum. Before Alcoa's formation, aluminum was difficult to refine and, as a result, was more expensive than silver or gold. In 1886, Hall discovered the Hall–Héroult process , the first inexpensive technique for refining aluminum, drastically reducing the price of aluminum while increasing its availability. Hall approached Hunt and Davis to form
8890-436: The characteristic physical properties of a post-transition metal, with longer-than-expected interatomic distances. Furthermore, as Al is a small and highly charged cation, it is strongly polarizing and bonding in aluminium compounds tends towards covalency ; this behavior is similar to that of beryllium (Be ), and the two display an example of a diagonal relationship . The underlying core under aluminium's valence shell
9017-480: The company be dissolved. The case of United States v. Alcoa was settled six years later. Aluminum products were of crucial use during World War II. A German U-Boat sank the SS Alcoa Puritan in 1942, as it carried a load of bauxite ore. In 1998, Alcoa acquired Alumax in a cash and share deal for $ 2.8 billion. Alcoa paid $ 50 a share in cash for half of the shares and 0.6975 Alcoa share for each of
9144-562: The company began production in New Kensington, Pennsylvania . Davis was named general manager and appointed to the board of directors in 1892. In 1895, a third site opened at Niagara Falls . Hunt left the company in 1898 to fight in the Spanish–American War . While in Puerto Rico, he contracted Malaria . Less than a year after his return to the states, he died from complications of the disease at age 44. By about 1903, after
9271-465: The complex housing six departments (tubes, sheets, rods, bar and wire, extrusion, jobbing, foil) and two subsidiaries (Aluminum Cooking Utensil Company and Aluminum Seal Company). In 1907, it created the "company town" of Pine Grove, New York , for workers outside Massena. In Badin, Alcoa, Maryville and other locations, the company funded the construction of schools, parks, playgrounds, and medical facilities. Historian George David Smith notes that "war
9398-675: The complex instead lobbied the Housing and Home Finance Agency to purchase the complex and convert it to a co-op . After gaining enough support, residents were successful, and purchased the complex in 1948. Funds for the down payment came from selling shares in the co-op, and a bank financed the rest. The community is still extant as a co-op today, and remains affordable, with monthly fees ranging from $ 360 and $ 380. The buildings are well-preserved relative to other instances of Bauhaus and Modernist architecture. Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for " Aluminum Company of America ")
9525-419: The coordination numbers are lower. The other trihalides are dimeric or polymeric with tetrahedral four-coordinate aluminium centers. Aluminium trichloride (AlCl 3 ) has a layered polymeric structure below its melting point of 192.4 °C (378 °F) but transforms on melting to Al 2 Cl 6 dimers. At higher temperatures those increasingly dissociate into trigonal planar AlCl 3 monomers similar to
9652-428: The core. In the Earth's crust, aluminium is the most abundant metallic element (8.23% by mass ) and the third most abundant of all elements (after oxygen and silicon). A large number of silicates in the Earth's crust contain aluminium. In contrast, the Earth's mantle is only 2.38% aluminium by mass. Aluminium also occurs in seawater at a concentration of 2 μg/kg. Because of its strong affinity for oxygen, aluminium
9779-707: The deal Alcoa would gain full ownership of AWAC. The acquisition was completed in August. On January 3, 2003, Alcoa opened its new operations headquarters on the North Shore of Pittsburgh . This move came about after it donated its 50-year-old skyscraper headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh to the Regional Development Authority. Alcoa created a plant just outside Maryville in Blount County , Tennessee. To support
9906-422: The development as they resented its intrusion into the local real estate market. Wally and others opposed it based on aesthetic grounds as well. Wally dismissed the project as "chicken coops" but despite winning the mayoral race and did not succeed in preventing its construction. He did, however, renege on a promise by the previous mayor to finance a new road to make accessing Aluminum City Terrace easier, and to date
10033-417: The development's emphasis of social components could render unionization efforts among its employees easier. Industrial concerns at the time also preferred that their employees purchase housing, rather than rent, as it tethered them financially and geographically to the plant, so reducing overturn. As plans were released, locals, including New Kensington mayoral candidate and real estate owner W.C. Wally, opposed
10160-497: The energy released by the decay of Al was responsible for the melting and differentiation of some asteroids after their formation 4.55 billion years ago. The remaining isotopes of aluminium, with mass numbers ranging from 21 to 43, all have half-lives well under an hour. Three metastable states are known, all with half-lives under a minute. An aluminium atom has 13 electrons, arranged in an electron configuration of [ Ne ] 3s 3p , with three electrons beyond
10287-478: The exception of most alkali metals and group 13 metals) and over 150 intermetallics with other metals are known. Preparation involves heating fixed metals together in certain proportion, followed by gradual cooling and annealing . Bonding in them is predominantly metallic and the crystal structure primarily depends on efficiency of packing. There are few compounds with lower oxidation states. A few aluminium(I) compounds exist: AlF, AlCl, AlBr, and AlI exist in
10414-520: The fact that its nuclei are much lighter, while difference in the unit cell size does not compensate for this difference. The only lighter metals are the metals of groups 1 and 2 , which apart from beryllium and magnesium are too reactive for structural use (and beryllium is very toxic). Aluminium is not as strong or stiff as steel, but the low density makes up for this in the aerospace industry and for many other applications where light weight and relatively high strength are crucial. Pure aluminium
10541-413: The factory, Alcoa built a small city and named it as such. The Alcoa Tenn Federal Credit Union was the first employee-created credit union in the state. The plant is no longer an Alcoa business. Alcoa's Massena West plant is the longest-operating smelter in the United States, continuously operating since 1902. The Reynolds Aluminum Plant became Massena East when the companies merged in 2000. Alcoa had
10668-642: The firm's new name on January 1, 1907. Davis was named company president in 1910 when the acronym "Alcoa" was coined. Hall remained a vice president until he died in 1914. It was given as a name to two of the locales where major corporate facilities were located (although one of these has since been changed), and in 1999, was adopted as the official corporate name. From 1902 until 1915, additional plants in Massena, New York (1903), Alcoa, Tennessee (1911), Edgewater, New Jersey (1915), Badin, North Carolina (1915) came online while New Kensington had 31 buildings in
10795-442: The formation of the planet. It is therefore a mononuclidic element and its standard atomic weight is virtually the same as that of the isotope. This makes aluminium very useful in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), as its single stable isotope has a high NMR sensitivity. The standard atomic weight of aluminium is low in comparison with many other metals. All other isotopes of aluminium are radioactive . The most stable of these
10922-730: The gas phase after explosion and in stellar absorption spectra. More thoroughly investigated are compounds of the formula R 4 Al 2 which contain an Al–Al bond and where R is a large organic ligand . A variety of compounds of empirical formula AlR 3 and AlR 1.5 Cl 1.5 exist. The aluminium trialkyls and triaryls are reactive, volatile, and colorless liquids or low-melting solids. They catch fire spontaneously in air and react with water, thus necessitating precautions when handling them. They often form dimers, unlike their boron analogues, but this tendency diminishes for branched-chain alkyls (e.g. Pr , Bu , Me 3 CCH 2 ); for example, triisobutylaluminium exists as an equilibrium mixture of
11049-453: The gaseous phase when the respective trihalide is heated with aluminium, and at cryogenic temperatures. A stable derivative of aluminium monoiodide is the cyclic adduct formed with triethylamine , Al 4 I 4 (NEt 3 ) 4 . Al 2 O and Al 2 S also exist but are very unstable. Very simple aluminium(II) compounds are invoked or observed in the reactions of Al metal with oxidants. For example, aluminium monoxide , AlO, has been detected in
11176-646: The halides, nitrate , and sulfate . For similar reasons, anhydrous aluminium salts cannot be made by heating their "hydrates": hydrated aluminium chloride is in fact not AlCl 3 ·6H 2 O but [Al(H 2 O) 6 ]Cl 3 , and the Al–O bonds are so strong that heating is not sufficient to break them and form Al–Cl bonds instead: All four trihalides are well known. Unlike the structures of the three heavier trihalides, aluminium fluoride (AlF 3 ) features six-coordinate aluminium, which explains its involatility and insolubility as well as high heat of formation . Each aluminium atom
11303-433: The low-pressure polymerization of ethene and propene . There are also some heterocyclic and cluster organoaluminium compounds involving Al–N bonds. The industrially most important aluminium hydride is lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH 4 ), which is used as a reducing agent in organic chemistry . It can be produced from lithium hydride and aluminium trichloride . The simplest hydride, aluminium hydride or alane,
11430-529: The metal remained rare; its cost exceeded that of gold. The first industrial production of aluminium was established in 1856 by French chemist Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville and companions. Deville had discovered that aluminium trichloride could be reduced by sodium, which was more convenient and less expensive than potassium, which Wöhler had used. Even then, aluminium was still not of great purity and produced aluminium differed in properties by sample. Because of its electricity-conducting capacity, aluminium
11557-655: The metal to be isolated from alum was alumium , which Davy suggested in an 1808 article on his electrochemical research, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society . It appeared that the name was created from the English word alum and the Latin suffix -ium ; but it was customary then to give elements names originating in Latin, so this name was not adopted universally. This name
11684-465: The metal with many uses at the time. During World War I , major governments demanded large shipments of aluminium for light strong airframes; during World War II , demand by major governments for aviation was even higher. By the mid-20th century, aluminium had become a part of everyday life and an essential component of housewares. In 1954, production of aluminium surpassed that of copper , historically second in production only to iron, making it
11811-491: The metal. Almost all metallic aluminium is produced from the ore bauxite (AlO x (OH) 3–2 x ). Bauxite occurs as a weathering product of low iron and silica bedrock in tropical climatic conditions. In 2017, most bauxite was mined in Australia, China, Guinea, and India. The history of aluminium has been shaped by usage of alum . The first written record of alum, made by Greek historian Herodotus , dates back to
11938-485: The monomer and dimer. These dimers, such as trimethylaluminium (Al 2 Me 6 ), usually feature tetrahedral Al centers formed by dimerization with some alkyl group bridging between both aluminium atoms. They are hard acids and react readily with ligands, forming adducts. In industry, they are mostly used in alkene insertion reactions, as discovered by Karl Ziegler , most importantly in "growth reactions" that form long-chain unbranched primary alkenes and alcohols, and in
12065-506: The most produced non-ferrous metal . During the mid-20th century, aluminium emerged as a civil engineering material, with building applications in both basic construction and interior finish work, and increasingly being used in military engineering, for both airplanes and land armor vehicle engines. Earth's first artificial satellite , launched in 1957, consisted of two separate aluminium semi-spheres joined and all subsequent space vehicles have used aluminium to some extent. The aluminium can
12192-452: The name to Almatis, Inc. In 2006, Alcoa relocated its top executives from Pittsburgh to New York City while its operational headquarters was still at its Corporate Center in Pittsburgh. Alcoa employed approximately 2,000 people at its Corporate Center in Pittsburgh and 60 at its New York office. Alcoa moved its headquarters back to Pittsburgh effective September 1, 2017, as part of a general consolidation of administrative facilities around
12319-614: The next decade, the -um spelling dominated American usage. In 1925, the American Chemical Society adopted this spelling. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990. In 1993, they recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant; the most recent 2005 edition of the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry also acknowledges this spelling. IUPAC official publications use
12446-688: The office in Reykjavik. In 2005 Alcoa acquired two major production facilities in Russia, at Samara and Belaya Kalitva . On November 21, 2006, Alcoa announced that it planned to close the Waunarlwydd works in Swansea , with the loss of 298 jobs. Production ceased at the Swansea plant on January 27, 2007. A small site closure team worked until December 31, 2008. Alcoa still owns the site, but it
12573-407: The oxidation state 3+. The coordination number of such compounds varies, but generally Al is either six- or four-coordinate. Almost all compounds of aluminium(III) are colorless. In aqueous solution, Al exists as the hexaaqua cation [Al(H 2 O) 6 ] , which has an approximate K a of 10 . Such solutions are acidic as this cation can act as a proton donor and progressively hydrolyze until
12700-460: The patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. It is unknown whether this spelling was introduced by mistake or intentionally, but Hall preferred aluminum since its introduction because it resembled platinum , the name of a prestigious metal. By 1890, both spellings had been common in the United States, the -ium spelling being slightly more common; by 1895, the situation had reversed; by 1900, aluminum had become twice as common as aluminium ; in
12827-489: The process of smelting aluminum, almost simultaneously with Paul Héroult in France. He realized that by passing an electric current through a bath of cryolite and aluminum oxide , the then semi-rare metal aluminum remained as a byproduct. This discovery, now called the Hall–Héroult process , along with the Bayer process , are the dominant processes for production of aluminum from bauxite ore . Fewer than ten sites in
12954-545: The quantity (13 million pounds in 2005) and toxicity of the emissions. More recently Alcoa ranked first in the United States even though they had reduced their emissions to less than 5 million pounds in 2014. Alcoa's most recently published ranking has dropped to 72nd based on 2020 data. Alcoa formed the Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica subsidiary on the island in 1959, shipping their first load of bauxite in 1963 from Rocky Point . Later in 1972, Alcoa established
13081-680: The remaining Alumax shares. Alcoa also assumed $ 1 billion in debt. Alumax's assets included the Eastalco aluminum smelter in Adamstown, Maryland , the Intalco aluminum smelter in Ferndale, Washington , and the Kawneer brand of building construction products. In 2000, Alcoa acquired Reynolds Metals Co. in an all-share deal for $ 4.5 billion. To clear anti-competition regulatory hurdles, Alcoa
13208-423: The respective hydrogen chalcogenide . As aluminium is a small atom relative to these chalcogens, these have four-coordinate tetrahedral aluminium with various polymorphs having structures related to wurtzite , with two-thirds of the possible metal sites occupied either in an orderly (α) or random (β) fashion; the sulfide also has a γ form related to γ-alumina, and an unusual high-temperature hexagonal form where half
13335-476: The road has not been built. To accelerate construction, components of the development were standardized to accelerate. A compressed timeline meant Gropius could not prepare using larger-scale offsite prefabrication for ACT, an approach he had experimented with in Germany. After construction, workers were skeptical about the housing, as it did not accommodate oversized kitchen appliances and furniture. Additionally,
13462-485: The scale of the economies. However, the need to exploit lower-grade poorer quality deposits and the use of fast increasing input costs (above all, energy) increased the net cost of aluminium; the real price began to grow in the 1970s with the rise of energy cost. Production moved from the industrialized countries to countries where production was cheaper. Production costs in the late 20th century changed because of advances in technology, lower energy prices, exchange rates of
13589-647: The state-owned Landsvirkjun specifically for the smelting operation. That project was subject to controversy due to its impact on the environment. In 2006, Alcoa and the government of Iceland signed an agreement on instigating a thorough feasibility study for a new 250,000 tpy (Tons Per Year) smelter in Bakki by Húsavík in Northern Iceland. In October 2011, the proposed project was dropped because "the power availability and proposed pricing would not support an aluminum smelter". Alcoa announced plans to close
13716-408: The structure of BCl 3 . Aluminium tribromide and aluminium triiodide form Al 2 X 6 dimers in all three phases and hence do not show such significant changes of properties upon phase change. These materials are prepared by treating aluminium with the halogen. The aluminium trihalides form many addition compounds or complexes; their Lewis acidic nature makes them useful as catalysts for
13843-458: The taxation and revenue from bauxite mining, highlighting the complexities of international business operations and the impact of global commodity markets on local economies. Alcoa Road, also known as El Aceitillar, is a significant part of Alcoa's legacy in the Dominican Republic . Originally constructed for a bauxite mine, it now leads to Sierra de Bahoruco National Park . This area offers an opportunity to observe endemic species and serves as
13970-578: The time, aluminum sold at almost $ 5 per pound, making it too expensive to be used commercially. They were determined to lower the cost of production using Charles Hall's ideas; Hall, Davis, and others worked 12-hour days together for months on the experiments. Their first commercial aluminum pour was on Thanksgiving Day in 1888. The Pittsburgh Reduction Company began with an experimental smelting plant on Smallman Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with Hunt as president and Hall as vice president. In 1891,
14097-536: The two therefore look similar. Aluminium is also good at reflecting solar radiation , although prolonged exposure to sunlight in air adds wear to the surface of the metal; this may be prevented if aluminium is anodized , which adds a protective layer of oxide on the surface. The density of aluminium is 2.70 g/cm , about 1/3 that of steel, much lower than other commonly encountered metals, making aluminium parts easily identifiable through their lightness. Aluminium's low density compared to most other metals arises from
14224-456: The world. In October 2018, Alcoa announced plans to move from Pittsburgh's North Shore to a downtown Pittsburgh location. In May 2007, Alcoa Inc. made a US$ 27 billion hostile takeover bid for Alcan in an attempt to form the world's largest aluminum producer. The bid was withdrawn when Alcan announced a friendly takeover by Rio Tinto in July 2007. On May 8, 2008, Klaus Kleinfeld
14351-421: Was a crucial strategic resource for aviation . In 1954, aluminium became the most produced non-ferrous metal , surpassing copper . In the 21st century, most aluminium was consumed in transportation, engineering, construction, and packaging in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. Despite its prevalence in the environment, no living organism is known to metabolize aluminium salts , but this aluminium
14478-461: Was a salt of an earth of alum. In 1595, German doctor and chemist Andreas Libavius experimentally confirmed this. In 1722, German chemist Friedrich Hoffmann announced his belief that the base of alum was a distinct earth. In 1754, German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf synthesized alumina by boiling clay in sulfuric acid and subsequently adding potash . Attempts to produce aluminium date back to 1760. The first successful attempt, however,
14605-660: Was again included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and was named as one of the top three most sustainable corporations in the world by Corporate Knights and Innovest Strategic Value Advisors at the World Economic Forum meeting. In 2008, the Political Economy Research Institute ranked Alcoa 15th among corporations emitting airborne pollutants in the United States. The ranking is based on
14732-788: Was appointed CEO of Alcoa, succeeding Alain Belda . On April 23, 2010, Alcoa's board of directors selected Kleinfeld to the office of chairman, following Belda's planned retirement. On July 16, 2012, Alcoa announced that it would take over full ownership and operation of Evermore Recycling and make it part of Alcoa's Global Packaging group. Evermore Recycling is a leader in used beverage can recycling, purchasing more recycled cans than any other group worldwide. In June 2013, Alcoa announced it would permanently close its Fusina primary aluminum smelter in Venice , Italy, where production had been curtailed since June 2010. On January 9, 2014, Alcoa settled with
14859-494: Was borrowed from French, which in turn derived it from alumen , the classical Latin name for alum , the mineral from which it was collected. The Latin word alumen stems from the Proto-Indo-European root *alu- meaning "bitter" or "beer". British chemist Humphry Davy , who performed a number of experiments aimed to isolate the metal, is credited as the person who named the element. The first name proposed for
14986-422: Was completed in 1824 by Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted . He reacted anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium amalgam , yielding a lump of metal looking similar to tin. He presented his results and demonstrated a sample of the new metal in 1825. In 1827, German chemist Friedrich Wöhler repeated Ørsted's experiments but did not identify any aluminium. (The reason for this inconsistency
15113-496: Was criticized by contemporary chemists from France, Germany, and Sweden, who insisted the metal should be named for the oxide, alumina, from which it would be isolated. The English name alum does not come directly from Latin, whereas alumine / alumina obviously comes from the Latin word alumen (upon declension , alumen changes to alumin- ). One example was Essai sur la Nomenclature chimique (July 1811), written in French by
15240-590: Was good to Alcoa." By the end of World War I Alcoa's New Kensington facility accounted for 3,292 workers—a fifth of the local population—and covered over 1 million square feet of manufacturing space on 75 acres. The war enabled Alcoa to increase production by 40% and to export some ninety million pounds to the Western Allies. After WWI, Alcoa obtained the rights to Alfred Wilm 's duralumin patent, which led to additional research into other aluminum alloys. By 1923, Alcoa's New Kensington, Pennsylvania plant
15367-466: Was initiated by French chemist Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville in 1856. Aluminium became much more available to the public with the Hall–Héroult process developed independently by French engineer Paul Héroult and American engineer Charles Martin Hall in 1886, and the mass production of aluminium led to its extensive use in industry and everyday life. In the First and Second World Wars, aluminium
15494-418: Was invented in 1956 and employed as a storage for drinks in 1958. Throughout the 20th century, the production of aluminium rose rapidly: while the world production of aluminium in 1900 was 6,800 metric tons, the annual production first exceeded 100,000 metric tons in 1916; 1,000,000 tons in 1941; 10,000,000 tons in 1971. In the 1970s, the increased demand for aluminium made it an exchange commodity; it entered
15621-433: Was only discovered in 1921.) He conducted a similar experiment in the same year by mixing anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium and produced a powder of aluminium. In 1845, he was able to produce small pieces of the metal and described some physical properties of this metal. For many years thereafter, Wöhler was credited as the discoverer of aluminium. As Wöhler's method could not yield great quantities of aluminium,
15748-541: Was required to sell Reynolds's 25% interest in a Washington smelter and all of Reynolds's alumina refineries. Reynolds owned a 56% interest in the Worsley alumina refinery in Australia, a 50% interest in a refinery in Germany, and a 100% interest in a Texas refinery. Alcoa also planned to sell Reynolds's construction and distribution business and the company's $ 400 million transportation business. Alcoa sold its packaging and consumer business, formerly called Reynolds Metals, to
15875-649: Was the ninth case the Bush administration pursued to bring the coal-fired power plant industry into full compliance with the Clean Air Act . Alcoa was unlawfully operating at the Rockdale facility since it overhauled the Rockdale power plant without installing necessary pollution controls and without first obtaining proper permits required by " New Source Review " program of the Clean Air Act. In 2005, Alcoa
16002-580: Was used as the cap of the Washington Monument , completed in 1885. The tallest building in the world at the time, the non-corroding metal cap was intended to serve as a lightning rod peak. The first industrial large-scale production method was independently developed in 1886 by French engineer Paul Héroult and American engineer Charles Martin Hall ; it is now known as the Hall–Héroult process . The Hall–Héroult process converts alumina into metal. Austrian chemist Carl Joseph Bayer discovered
16129-578: Was using horizontal extrusion presses, with preheated billets, for aerospace and construction applications. One of the first industrial uses was for the Navy's Shenandoah , followed ten years later with airplane applications . The Northern Aluminum Company in Quebec was renamed the Aluminum Company of Canada (ALCAN) in 1925. They were responsible for the rapid development of Arvida, Quebec,
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