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Aluminum (mander.xyz)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

I can't think of many things you encounter every day that just use straight iron. Only alloys that use iron

Meanwhile, you'll use very pure aluminum all the time

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You as a human use pure iron. But non-animate objects, yeah mostly alloys

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Uh, I hate to break it to you, but literally all the iron in the human body is either part of a protein or bound to other molecules. It's not an alloy per se, but it isn't exactly pure iron

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Pure aluminium is only used when you need to have very little reactivity.

General construction steel has >98% weight iron. Around the same as most aluminium alloys.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Really now? I thought most steel had way more carbon & chromium/nickel/manganese than that. I guess I underestimate how little is needed to make iron no longer mushy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

It is mainly only in stainless steels that have anything other than iron in high concentrations, they might have something like 30% of their weight elements other than iron

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Sounds like aluminum is a loner and iron plays well with others. I'd bet there is still more iron encountered every day than aluminum even if the aluminum is pure and the iron is alloyed.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

Pure virgin aluminium vs chad alloyed iron

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I was super confused when I read "loaner", I thought you meant loaning as in like borrowing. But then I realized you meant "loner". Lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Oops, my bad lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Perhaps so, but one might argue that human tech relies more on iron than any other metal - because of its magnetic properties. We need iron to generate and manipulate electricity.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

sounds like a good argument for iron.