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Introduction
The industrial-scale production and use of aluminum metal is less than 150 years
old. Yet in that time, the industry has grown until it is second only to the iron and
steel industry among metal producers. The growth in aluminum usage was particu-
larly rapid in the years following World War II, and every sector of the industry can
point to products that were never produced from aluminum a generation ago but are
now primarily manufactured from an aluminum alloy. Beverage cans, sports equip-
ment, electrical buswork, window frames—all are now produced from aluminum,
along with thousands of other products.
Books on the production of ...