Aluminum
Aluminum is a lightweight, silvery, durable metal considered as the most abundant metallic element in the Earth’s crust and the most widely used non ferrous metal. Aluminum is added in small amounts to certain metals to improve their properties for specific uses, as in aluminum bronzes and most magnesium-base alloys; or, for aluminum-base alloys, moderate amounts of other metals and silicon are added to aluminum.
- Requires a significant amount of energy to convert from raw ore
- Refining creates a number of bi-products that can be bad for the environment
- Over time Aluminium smelting has moved outside of the United states