Die casting and machining
for over 50 years
for over 50 years
ALUMINIUM DIVISION
DIE-CASTING PARTS
MACHINING
PROJECT AND CONSTRUCTION OF PRESSURE DIE-CASTING TOOLS
Native aluminium does not exist in
nature. Though it corresponds to the 8% of the total elements on earth,
man had to invent it, extracting it from bauxite.
Discovering aluminium meant to discover a material with exceptional
characteristics of lightness, ductility, mechanical strength,
resistance to atmospheric agents, form retention, good thermal and
electrical conductivity. Thanks to its properties, aluminium has
rapidly become one of the most widely employed materials in production
of large and extremely large scale consumer goods. It is second only to
steel and tends to improve its position...continue»»
Quality and reliability
Product quality and reliability are the strongest points of our Company
since its foundation...continue»»
Product range
Technology, continuous investments experience and know-how have allowed
our Company to acquire important orders in the sectors where it
operates ...continue»»
S.p.A. - via Kennedy, 20
- 25020 Pralboino (BS) Italia - Tel. +39 0309954378 r.a. Fax +39
0309954390 info@foma.it - Privacy
The ancient Greeks and Romans used alum in medicine. If you enter a museum with ancient Greek, Roman or Chinese pottery you see aluminium in use. Aluminium-bearing clays to make pottery, and aluminium salts to make dyes can be found on ancient pottery of all ancient cutlures contains aluminium. Those cultures of course did not know that an element called aluminium gave those special properties to their creations. In the middle ages aluminium was one of the elements which acquired an alchemical symbol, as alchemist thought that they can use a metal they had not seen in their ancient pursuit concerned with, for instance, the transformation of other metals into gold. Only much later that aluminium began to be thought as a metal separate and self contained for use such as other ferrous and non ferrous metals. In 1761 de Morveau proposed the name "alumine" for the base in alum. In 1807, Davy proposed the name alumium for the metal, undiscovered at that time, and later agreed to change it to aluminum. Shortly later, the name aluminium was adopted by IUPAC to conform with the "ium" ending of most elements. Aluminium is the IUPAC spelling and therefore the international standard. Aluminium was also the accepted spelling in the U.S.A. until 1925, at which time the American Chemical Society decided to return to aluminum, and to this day Americans still refer to aluminium as "aluminum". Aluminium was first isolated by Hans Christian Oersted in 1825 who reacted aluminium chloride (AlCl3) with potassium amalgam, an alloy of potassium and mercury. Heating the resulting aluminium amalgam under reduced pressure caused the mercury to boil away leaving aluminium metal. The metal was born for uses, which at that time no one could have thought of. Let us take a look at the history of aluminium, which is celebrating only 200 years since its birth, making it the most recently discovered metal in common use. Aluminium only exists naturally in combination with other materials silicates and oxides. These are very stable and it took many years of painstaking research to "unlock" the metal, from natures protective arms. A short outline of the major dates regarding the birth and amazing growth of the aluminium follows:
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