As the owner of a company, you’ll know that considering sustainability is your social responsibility. Making greener choices both reduces adverse effects on the environment, and ensures that you brand yourself as a respectable business. There’s always an ongoing debate about the most ethical materials to use for throughout production processes.

If you make use of metals, it’s worth considering both an eco-friendly and effective solution. With this in mind, working with aluminum can be a wise choice.

Aluminum

In the earth’s crust, aluminum is the most abundant metal. Its production relies upon aluminum oxide that is initially extracted from bauxite ore. There are two parts to the procedure, firstly extracting the alumina from the bauxite and secondly a smelting of the metal. During this smelting process, electrolytic cells are used. Approximately a third of our aluminum today is produced via recycled material. Aluminum has a vast number of different applications (that are growing all the time)! A few of the major industries that use aluminum include construction, packaging, and the transportation industry. It’s highly important in the production of automobiles, boats, and airplanes, for example. It’s non-toxic properties also make it a popular choice for food packaging.

Sustainability

Aluminum is regarded as one of the most sustainable metals to make use of. If you melt aluminum down, it will not change in physical form. Due to this, you can easily recycle the metal as many times as required, ongoing. During the recycling process, it’s possible to save a huge amount of energy as opposed to making new aluminum.

It’s often a common solution to use aluminum to coat a roof for instance. An aluminum roof is highly reflective of the sun, which then enhances the overall energy efficiency of the building. Besides sustainability, there are plenty of other advantages to making aluminum your metal of choice.

No Corrosion

Aluminium can resist corrosion very well, so it’s a great choice for many production processes. The metal is able to resist corrosion because it naturally forms an oxide layer upon its surface. In the event that this layer is damaged, it can self-repair. Some other metals do not have such an effective oxide layer, and therefore, they may corrode easier. Aluminium is also a great conductor of electricity and heat, making it capable of being used for a huge number of applications from transmission lines to computer products.

Durable

Aluminium is very durable with an excellent lifespan. It’s widely used in the construction sector for this very reason. Metals with a longer lifespan provide construction services with value for money and high quality. With all this in mind, many manufacturers favour the use of aluminium. To create mold makers, for example, an M5 aluminum plate is a popular choice to complete this process both quickly and efficiently. Such devices are also more affordable than larger aluminum blocks. As well as being durable, aluminum is highly flexible, which means that the design potential is endless.

Strong & Sturdy

Aluminium is very strong, specially alloyed aluminium. When your goal is to produce top quality products, you’ll want a metal with strength that you can rely on. Though it’s benefits are plenty, it’s still a highly affordable option that won’t leave you too much out of pocket! Aluminum is incredibly versatile as it can take a large variety of forms from tubes to foil or wire etc. Though aluminium has great strength capabilities, it is also lightweight. Due to this it’s easy and inexpensive during the transportation process.

The lightweight characteristics mean that it contributes to sustainable transportation. It can be used to build vehicles which are consequently lightweight, which can therefore consume less fuel. The larger the vehicle, the more reduced the C02 savings will be. Ferries and aircrafts can remain highly sustainable if aluminum components are used in their construction.

Conclusion

When you’re running a business, you’ll know that it pays to keep up with the most efficient solutions to produce your products. Technology and market trends are always changeable at a rapid pace. To stay ahead, it pays to research and review your processes consistently over time.

The key is to balance sustainability with options that are also viable and realistic for your company. Constantly assessing your operations to make improvements will help you to be more successful overall. When choosing metal for your company’s products, aluminum has the advantages of being durable, strong, affordable, and anti-corrosive, while also being sustainable.