Since the London Metal Exchange first launched the aluminum futures contract 1987, aluminum futures trading has been recognized as a mature bulk futures product, and it is an indispensable investment tool for the international non-ferrous metal industry to avoid risks and find prices. Although the trading of aluminum futures contracts is one hundred years later than that of copper futures contracts, the trading of aluminum futures has been very active in recent years, and the trading volume has steadily increased, which has become the largest contract in futures trading, and its price has also become the main basis for guiding the price trend of global aluminum spot market. In addition to the London Metal Exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange, Tokyo Industrial Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange all trade aluminum futures.

Natural properties of aluminum

Aluminum is a light metal, and its compounds are widely distributed in nature. The resources of aluminum in the earth's crust are second only to oxygen and silicon, ranking third. Among the metal varieties, it is the second largest metal after steel.

Aluminum has special chemical and physical properties, not only light weight and firm texture, but also good ductility, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, heat resistance and nuclear radiation resistance, and is an important basic raw material for national economic development. The specific gravity of aluminum is about 1/3 of that of ordinary metal. Aluminum has good plasticity and ductility, which is convenient for all kinds of cold and hot pressure processing. It can be made into aluminum foil with a thickness of only a few millimeters, or it can be cold-drawn into extremely fine wire. By adding other elements, aluminum can be alloyed and hardened, and its strength can even exceed that of structural steel, but it still maintains the advantage of light weight.

Application of aluminum

In recent fifty years, aluminum has become one of the most widely used metals in the world. Especially in the construction, transportation and packaging industries, the aluminum consumption of these three industries generally accounts for about 60% of the annual aluminum consumption.

In the construction industry, due to the stability of aluminum in air and excellent appearance after anodic treatment, aluminum is more and more widely used in the construction industry, especially in aluminum alloy doors and windows, aluminum plastic pipes, decorative plates, aluminum curtain walls and so on.

In the transportation industry, in order to reduce the weight of vehicles and reduce the environmental pollution caused by exhaust emissions, motorcycles, various cars, trains, subways, airplanes, ships and other means of transportation began to use aluminum and aluminum alloys as parts and decorative pieces. With the continuous improvement of hardness and strength of aluminum alloy processing materials, the proportion of aluminum alloy processing materials used in aerospace field began to increase year by year.

In the packaging industry, the application scope of aluminum in various soft packages, all-aluminum cans, various bottle caps and lids and medical packaging is also expanding.

In other consumption fields, the uses and prospects of electronic appliances, household appliances (refrigerators, air conditioners) and daily-use hardware are increasingly broad.

Production technology and process of aluminum

Flow chart of aluminum production process