The difference between aluminum, primary aluminum, electrolytic aluminum, aluminum ingot and alumina

Electrolytic aluminum is a method to smelt metal aluminum. Usually, the alumina is decomposed into aluminum by high current in the electrolytic cell.

Aluminum ingots can be divided into high purity aluminum ingots, aluminum alloy ingots and remelting aluminium ingots according to their composition, and can also be divided into round ingots, plate ingots, strip ingots and T-shaped ingots according to their shape and size.

Aluminum is a silver white metal, which ranks third in the earth's crust next to oxygen and silicon. The density of aluminum is small, so it is called as light metal. Aluminum is a non-ferrous metal with high yield and high usage. It is second only to steel in the world. The density of aluminum is about 1/3 of the density of steel and copper. Because of its light material, it is commonly used in manufacturing, train, subway, automobile, aircraft, ship, rocket and other land and sea air traffic tools to reduce the weight of self weight and increase the load. Similarly, aluminum is also in a significant position in military products.

Primary aluminum:

Primary aluminum is a liquid aluminum that is produced in the process of electrolysis, without precipitation and so on. The primary aluminum can be made into aluminum ingot by cooling into the cast aluminum ingot model. Therefore, alumina is the primary material of aluminum liquid, the electrolytic aluminum is the process, the primary aluminum is the aluminum liquid in the electrolysis process, the aluminum ingot is a kind of aluminum product, and finally it is sold on the market.

Electrolytic aluminum:

The primary materials used in our daily industry are aluminum ingots. According to the national standard (GB/T 1196-2008), they should be called "remelting aluminum ingots", but we are commonly used as "aluminum ingots". It is produced by electrolysis of alumina and cryolite. There are two main categories of aluminum ingots after casting into industrial applications: cast aluminum alloy and wrought aluminum alloy. Cast aluminum and aluminium alloys are castings made of aluminium by casting; deformed aluminium and aluminium alloys are processed products of aluminum by means of pressure processing: plates, strips, foils, tubes, rods, molds, wires and forgings. According to the national standard, "remelting aluminum ingot is divided into 8 grades by chemical composition, which are Al99.90, Al99.85, Al99.70, Al99.60, Al99.50, Al99.00, Al99.7E, Al99.6E" (the number after Al is aluminum content). The "A00" aluminum, which is called, is actually aluminum containing 99.7% purity and is called "standard aluminum" in the London market. 

Alumina:

Alumina (Al₂O₃) is a high hardness compound with a melting point of 2054℃ and a boiling point of 2980℃. It is an ionized ionic crystal at high temperature. It is often used in the manufacture of refractory materials. Industrial Al₂O₃ is made of bauxite and diaspore. For high purity Al₂O₃, it is usually prepared by chemical method.

Al₂O₃ has a lot of homogenous crystals. There are more than 10 known kinds of crystals. There are mainly 3 crystal types, namely, γ-Al₂O₃、β-Al₂O₃、α-Al₂O₃. The structure is different in nature and almost completely converted to α-Al₂O₃ at high temperatures above 1300℃.