Although aluminum makes up about 8 percent of the Earth's crust (it is the third most plentiful crustal element), it does not occur in its pure form, but is found associated with other elements in compounds, such as aluminum chloride (cryolite) and aluminum hydroxide (bauxite). It was identified as a possible new metal prior to 1800, but it was not until 1825 that it was isolated in powder form by Danish chemist Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1857). Two years later German chemist Friedrich Wöhler produced it in solid ingot form (1880-82). These discoveries, as essential as they were, did not make it possible to produce aluminum in large quantities. Thus it was considered a precious metal for most of the nineteenth century.
Mass production of aluminum was made possible with the simultaneous invention of the electrolytic reduction method by American chemist Charles Martin Hall and French chemist Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult in 1886. Both men used electrodes to isolate aluminum within a batch of molten cryolite, creating a method by which the metal could be produced in large quantities over a short period of time. With the Hall-Heroult process, aluminum became much less expensive, passing from a precious substance to one that was practical for a variety of everyday applications. Production in 1887 totaled 28.6t (26t). Hall and a consortium of investors and supporters went to Pittsburgh financier Andrew Mellon (1855-1937) in 1889 and made a cash-for-stock swap. With the cash, Hall founded the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which was renamed the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in 1907. The Pittsburgh Reduction Company produced large quantities of aluminum, which was quickly adopted as material for buildings, boats, kitchen utensils, electrical wiring, automobiles and appliances. It was even used by the Wright brothers in their original 1903 airplane. In 1906 the Germans began building their World War I Zeppelin airships with a structural material called duraluminum. It was aluminum with an alloy of one-third steel, making it slightly heavier than aluminum but also making it nearly as strong as steel.
Aluminum foil was invented in 1910. Nine years later Virginian R. S. Reynolds, founded the United States Foil Company, which made foil lining for his uncle R. J.'s cigarette packages. In 1930 the company became the Reynolds Metal Company. Bauxite became the primary ore from which aluminum was extracted. This earthy compound exists in great abundance in Arkansas, Haiti, and Jamaica. Alcoa and Reynolds Metal Company own most of these reserves. Development of the Bayer process of refining aluminum from bauxite and the proximity of the reserves to the North American aluminum market helped boost the popularity of bauxite and aluminum. Invented by Karl Wilhelm Bayer in 1888, the process refined bauxite to a stage where it could be accommodated by the Hall-Heroult process.
The aluminum industry greatly expanded with military applications during World War II, especially in the airplane industry. During the postwar 1940s and 1950s, when record numbers of Americans were raising families and purchasing middle-class single-family homes, household goods made with aluminum, from coffee pots to lawn chairs, became a common part of daily life, often replacing wood where weathering was a concern. Aluminum has been at the center of the recycling movement of the 1980s and 1990s. Its widespread use in beer and soft drink containers makes it one of the most readily recyclable commodities on the market. In this same time period, the idea of using aluminum in car components, even replacing steel in car bodies, came to fruition. Aluminum can make cars lighter so they would consume less gasoline and reduce exhaust-gas emissions. Potentially, carsŐ fuel efficiency could triple, if structural safety issues can be successfully addressed. The first all-aluminum car, the Audi A8, was produced in 1994, though it was only available in Europe. The Reynolds Company also promoted the use of aluminum in bridges and their in the mid-1990s. Though aluminum is more expensive than other materials used in bridges, it has other advantages, including a higher strength-to-weight ratio than, for example, concrete.
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