A hundred years of VAW aluminium technology, part I

摘要

Vereinigte Aluminium-Werke AG (VAW) was founded by theGerman Reich on 21 April 1917 in Berlinwith the aim of producing aluminium forthe arms industry. In doing so, an effortwas made to obtain the most importantraw materials, such as alumina, from domesticsources. There were no mineablebauxite deposits in Germany so one hadto resort to using alternative materialslike clay. VAW had to develop new technologiesto process these substitute rawmaterials and for this purpose set up a researchcentre at its Lautawerk plant thatconducted development work on processesto produce alumina and its electrolysis.On 1 January 1964, VAW establishedits Leichtmetall-Forschungsinstitut (LFI,Light Metal Research Institute) in Bonnto centralize its research activities.This article describes the processes developedby VAW that became establishedin the aluminium industry, achievedinternational importance and are still inuse today. Part I, which is published here,deals with alumina technology. Part II,which will appear in the May issue, dealswith process developments in smelting,casting and materials and in aluminiumprocessing.