How do we smelt aluminum in ancient times?
aluhm > 04-09-2018, 02:28 AM
In ancient times, it could not electrolysis, but there was still a little aluminum.
Legend has it that Napoleon and his knives and forks are made of aluminum. At the banquet, he provided gold tableware for most guests, and only a few guests used aluminum tableware to make a deeper impression on the guests. In 1885, the top hat of Washington Monument, built in Washington, D.C., was also made of metallic aluminum. Because in the nineteenth Century, aluminum was a precious metal. The aluminum grain that people first acquired is just like a treasure, and its price is equal to that of gold. Because it is extremely difficult to extract aluminum from aluminum ores. In 1825, a small amount of pure aluminum was separated from the OE of Denmark. In 1827, hler metal potassium and anhydrous aluminum chloride reaction and prepared aluminum. But K is too expensive, so do not allow a large scale production. 27 years later, a French chemist, Deweier, heated with metallic sodium and anhydrous aluminum chloride to get a small aluminum ball that shone with metallic luster. Although the use of metal sodium greatly reduced the production cost of aluminum, it obviously did not reach the level of universal application of aluminum. In 1884, the United States Department of chemistry at Oberlin College, a young student named Charles Martin Hall. He was only twenty-one years old. Once, he listened to a professor (this professor is a student of Weller), said: "no matter who can invent a low-cost aluminum smelting method, it will get ahead." This made Holzer realize that only by exploring cheap aluminum smelting method can aluminum be widely applied. Holzer decided to run a family laboratory in his home's firewood house. He intends to apply an early David invention to melt the current into molten metal salts that can deposit metal ions on the cathode to separate the metal ions. Because the melting point of alumina was very high (2050 degrees C), he had to look for a material that could dissolve alumina and reduce its melting point, and accidentally found the Na3AlF6. The melting point of cryolite alumina molten salt is only between 930 and 1000 degrees. Cryolite is not decomposed under the electrolysis temperature and has enough fluidity. This will be beneficial to the development of electrolysis. Holzer adopts porcelain crucible, carbon (anode) and self-made batteries of alumina, Alumina ore is refined by electrolysis. The alumina was dissolved in 10% ~ 15% melted ice crystals, and then passed through the current. It was observed that bubbles appeared, but there was no metal aluminum precipitation. He speculated that the current dissolved the silica in the crucible, and therefore free silicon. So he refitted the battery, made carbon as the crucible liner, and used carbon as the cathode to solve this problem. One day in February 1886, he finally saw that globular aluminum gathered on the cathode. Holzer was very excited at the moment and went to see his professor with the first metal ball he got. Later, the aluminum ball has become a "crown jewel", Jane still exist in the United States aluminum company exhibition hall. The invention of the cheap aluminum smelting method made the aluminum content in the earth's crust account for 8% of the total elements, and has since become a material that provides many important uses for mankind. Inventor Holzer, who was 23 years old, was his 23 birthday in December 6th. There was another thing to mention. It was a great coincidence that a young French chemist of the same age with Holzer, ALU, invented the same process of aluminum smelting later this year.
Holzer and Herou in the distant two continents, the same year came into the world (1863) and the same year the invention of electrolytic aluminum RefiningTechnology (1886). Although they once had a patent dispute, but later became friends with complete mutual understanding. In 1911, when the American Chemical Industry Association awarded Holzer the famous prizes, Lu also went to the United States to take part in the award ceremony, and congratulated Holzer himself. Maybe it was heaven's decree. In 1914, all two scientists died one after another. I wonder when people mention electrolytic aluminium production method, then to Holzer and Herou names together.