In the long list of non-ferrous metals "the pride of place" clearly belongs to aluminum - chemical element of Group III of Mendeleev's Periodic System-very light and of silvery-light color. It is in high demand in the aircraft, automobile and space engineering industries, nuclear technology, construction, packaging and power industries. Many unique alloys, including the famous B-95, were developed by Acad. Iosif Fridlyander (State Research Center "VNII aviatsionnykh splavov").

Russia's leading specialists in this field point out that of priority importance for this country's industrial development is what they call "deep reprocessing" of the related raws. Over the past 2 to 3 years the output of raw aluminum, alumina and bauxites has topped the level of 1990. The increase is due to the fact, among other factors, that more than 80 percent of the output is achieved with the help of low-cost electricity generated by our major hydroelectric power stations (on the world scale this factor approaches 50 percent).

At the present time Russia's most promising producers of aluminum manufacture packaging products (above all, cans for beverages and also packings for milk, Pharmaceuticals, etc.) and foils. Planned for the near future is the production of what spe-

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cialists call "aluminum wagon". These will be 3 tons lighter than their conventional "brethren" which means that the difference will be in favor of the payloads. Our factories are producing a range of kitchenware with anti-scorch Teflon coatings at prices much below those of imports. New materials find many uses in airbuses-these big air carriers with plenty of room inside. Such materials are important not only from the habitual angle of strength and elasticity, but by the addition of fracture toughness. This factor was suggested by Russian experts who outstripped their Western rivals, using high-strength material of the 1933 brand (developed at YIAM). The processing of aluminum in this country is focused at major plants in four regions (Krasnoyarsk Territory, Ural, Leningrad and Moscow regions). When construction is completed of the Bauxite Timana Mine with a transport railway we shall have aluminum complex in the Komi Republic and this will boost the production of this light metal on a national scale.

International industrial journal METALLY YEVRAZII (Metals of Eurasia), No. 4, 2003; IZVESTIA, April 2004

Prepared by Ksenia DYADKOVA

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