druppolo t1_j65or0b wrote
Let’s put it like this:
It is abundant… but…!
But it’s one of the metal the loves the most to oxidize and react with all sort of things in nature. Once you make it pure, it stays pure and does not corrode past its surface, In nature however, it is four mixed with all sort of things to which it loves to stick.
So the process of getting new aluminum requires to melt and process a lot of rock, discarding the most of it and keep some aluminum oxide. This requires to melt a lot of stuff. Then you have to convince that oxide to let go the oxygen it loves to stick to, so you can get pure aluminum. This requires a lot of electricity.
Basically finding aluminum is not an issue, but the amount of energy needed to purify it (read it as coal, gas, oil to burn to get that energy) is very big.
Any-Growth8158 t1_j65u0dz wrote
Mostly correct, although the part about pure aluminum not corroding is absolutely incorrect. Pure aluminum corrodes very quickly, but it's oxide doesn't flake and fall off like rust on iron. The outside of pure aluminum quickly corrodes in our atmosphere creating a very thin skin of an aluminum oxide. This thin layer provides a barrier that prevents oxygen from getting further into the aluminum and corroding the interior.
druppolo t1_j67s2ox wrote
Ty, corrected. I skipped that cause I wanted to keep it short. I work in aviation and if I open my mouth about corrosion it can take few hours before I shout up again XD
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