How Is It Made? Aluminium Foil!

Aluminium foil or “tin foil” is a product most of us use on a regular basis, for one reason or another. If we’re not wrapping up our sandwiches in it ready for lunch time the next day then we’re using it in our oven, to cook on. In fact there are considerably more uses for it than just the home based, cooking purposes. Aluminium foil is used in different sizes and strengths for a number of industrial purposes too, but just how is this miraculous substance made? Well, the How Is It Made blog is here to help once more!

Firstly aluminium in its raw from is extracted as an ore called bauxite which then needs to have the pure aluminium extracted from it. To begin with the ore is refined so as to remove impurities like iron oxide, silica, and water. This refining process is separated into four stages the first of which is the digestion stage. During digestion the bauxite ore is ground down and mixed with sodium hydroxide and then the mixture is pumped into pressurized tanks. The mixture of the sodium hydroxide, the heat, and the pressure within these tanks causes the break down of the ore into a saturated solution of sodium aluminate and the insoluble contaminants within the ore. All of this then settles to the bottom of these tanks.

Clarification is next, which is the process of sending the solution and its contaminants through a set of different tanks and presses. At this point specially designed cloth filters trap the contaminants within the solution to be disposed of. The entire solution is filtered again and then transported to a “cooling tower”.

Next, the solution (which is now aluminium oxide) is moved into a large silo in which the fluid is “seeded” with crystals of hydrated aluminium. This accommodates the formation of aluminium particles due to the seed crystals attracting other crystals which are within the solution and as a result large clumps of aluminium hydrate begin to form. These are then filtered out and finally rinsed.

The final step within this process (known as the Bayer refinement process) is known as “calcination”, which is the exposing of aluminium hydrate to extremely high temperatures. The extreme heat to which it is subjected dehydrates the material, leaving a residue of fine white powder otherwise known as pure aluminium oxide.

This aluminium oxide is then in turn “smelted” to produce a pure form of aluminium, this process will be covered next week in; How it’s Made? Aluminium! Part II

Picture sourced from Flickr User: Modern Relics

How Is It Made? Balloons!

The process of creating balloons has been through several different stages, for several different utilisations. They have been created out of a number of different materials from dried animal bladders to modern rubber balloon which was inventor by the historically famous inventor Michael Faraday in 1824.

Rubber balloons have changed very little since their invention and have become a hugely common item which is used for an enormous variety of different occasions. Here is an example of how a lot of balloons are actually created using an industrial process.

Firstly the right colour dye is added into a latex solution, which is then filtered through

large sheets of taught cheese cloth to remove lumps. After this “agitators” which are situated at the bottom of the tank mix the solution for up to fifteen hours which both distributes the colour and prevents the solution from congealing.

Next a set of balloon shaped forms which are attached to a fixture are moved along a series of rollers and hosed down to clean them, and they are then flicked up and dipped into an electromagnetically charged coagulant liquid which will later help to attract the latex liquid.

These forms are pointed downwards and dipped into the latex solution, and then they are

flipped upright and replaced by the next group of forms which face downwards and dip into the same solution.

The latex dries very quickly as they slide along on rollers and they pass spinning brushes which rotate along the bottom edges of the balloons to roll lips into them. These will help to inflate them later. They are then plunged into a sixteen minute hot water bath which removes impurities like the protein that causes latex allergies; it also helps to continue the vulcanisation (or rubberising) process.

The fixture then dips the forms and balloons in a mixture of talcum powder and water which makes removing the balloons from their forms a much easier process. They are then rolled along and above fast air jets which inflate the balloons. As they inflate, some rollers above the balloons pull them free of their forms and fixtures and shoot the balloons up onto another conveyor belt.

The now individual balloons are piled into an industrial washing machine and a cleaning solution is added. A nozzle sprays hot water into the washing machine for the final clean and to complete the vulcanisation process.

The final process is to test the balloons using an inflation machine and then by eye for imperfections. Now they are ready for shipping, and eventually for use by party goers everywhere!

How Is It Made? Money!!

Some things which require manufacturing to be brought into existence are so commonly seen and used in today’s world that we often don’t think about how they created. A great example of such items is one of the oldest, manufactured products on the planet: Money.

In the following article I will be focusing on how the two Euro coin is manufactured, although most coins are constructed in a very similar way. The difference is that the two Euro coin is one of the newsiest designs in the world of currency, and has been specifically designed to meet new standards in terms of defeating plagiarism and keeping fakes out of the currency pool.


Most modern coins are made using the same inexpensive materials, generally copper and nickel. In the case of the two Euro coin it’s both metals and primarily copper. The copper which is used is collected from scrap and recycled copper which is squeezed into eight ton cubes to be processed.


Next the cubes are transported to the foundry and melted down at twelve thousand degrees Celsius. It is then removed from the furnace and cooled into two huge blocks, which have a combined weight of seventy tons. These two enormous sections are cut into five meter chunks are then heated to nine hundred degrees Celsius and pressed back and forth between rollers in order to compress the metal into an easier to manage, more malleable form.
These strips are then scraped clean after the heating process and sent back to the presses. After being compressed a third time the lengths are turned into four hundred meters long rolls. The next process is used to create the fillings for the coins. To create these unique pieces of metal they compress a section of nickel between two pieces of copper. The metal is fed into a machine which compresses the sheets together with such force that they cannot be separated and then into a press which hammers the shapes of the coins centre out of the sheet.

The outer ring is also stamped out of a different sheet which is pure copper, and the middle sections which are cut out of the outer rings are sent back to the furnace to be melted and reused. The outer rings are then cleaned in a bath of acid and ball bearings.

The next stage is to create the template for the coins design. This design is crushed onto a stamp block with hundred tons of pressure and hardened in a furnace at eight hundred degrees Celsius. The hardening process is essential to the longevity of the stamps and after this they can be used to engrave up to two hundred thousand coins. The stamp surfaces are cleaned with fine glass particles, polished and checked.

Finally the rings are put into the stamp press with the centre piece placed in the hole. The stamps are then used both to engrave the design into the face of the coin and to press the two pieces together efficiently. After this process the coins are finished and ready to be transported out for general use.

So there you have it! If you had ever wondered where that change in your pocket came from, it most likely came from a process just like this one.

Fireworks – How They Are Made

Fireworks originated in China where they were used to encourage festivities and soon became part of the Chinese culture which was to then spread worldwide. Originally, fireworks were made of gunpowder which is a mixture of ingredients such as sulphur and charcoal. Today there are many more chemicals involved to create much more special effects.

Pyrotechnicians, experts at handling explosives, are the main developers who create the fireworks in factories where safety is paramount. The process of creating a successful firework is extremely complex and having one minute detail out of place can completely ruin the entire functioning.

The first component of a firework is the outer shell. This is handcrafted using treated cardboard or thick paper and usually manipulated into a cylinder shape to encompass the contents. Inside this shell you will commonly find an oxygen producer, fuel, colour-producing agents and a binding resin to combine the explosive recipe.

A powder form of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur are the three ingredients which react to propel the firework up into the air. A time-delay fuse is fitted into the shell casing to determine the amount of time the firework ascends into the air before exploding. When the 3 ingredients combine to create a charcoal-oxygen compound, this is what causes the firework to explode.

‘Stars’ is the scientific name for the pyrotechnic pellet which determines the shape of the explosion depending on the arrangement inside the shell. They are the source of the amazing displays enjoyed by everyone today! With modern techniques continually being developed, the recipe is forever being changed to enhance the fireworks performance and create even more exciting exhibitions to be enjoyed in the future.

How it’s Made: Pencils

Some items and objects are used and seen so often and have been in our lives so long we sometimes don’t think about when they came to be, and how they are created. Pencils undoubtedly fit into this category of the sometimes forgotten object.

The pencil trade began in England in 1500s with the discovery of an abundance of a graphite ore. This was sharpened into sticks and was originally used to mark sheep, which lead to the creation of the first pencils. The graphite was also utilised to create moulds for cannon balls and so become more valuable.

Soon after this, the creation of pencils encased in wood was conceived. This was followed quite shortly by the invention of a form of pencil casing where two wooden halves were carved and groove made in both. A stick of graphite was then inserted and the two halves were then glued together. This is almost identical to the method which is utilised today for creating pencils.

In the late 1700s Nicholas Jacques Conté created a method of mixing clay with his powdered graphite. The mixture was the formed into rods that were fired in a kiln. This gave way to the invention of differing levels in hardness and softness of “lead”. This in turn lead to the creation of the HB scale we still use. This method of mixing clay and graphite power to create pencil “leads” is still in use to this day.

Of course these processes have now become industrialised to create pencils in bulk but the ideas are very much the same. The basic process of modern and industrial pencil creation is as follows:

�

- Wooden slats are pre ordered to specific measurements. Each one contains one half of several pencils in a row

- The slats travel along a conveyor belt under a saw which cuts several parallel grooves into them

- The next machine they pass beneath fills each groove with an elasticised form of glue, which will both hold the “lead” in place and also help to cushion it against breaking.

- Every other slat is moved on to another conveyor belt without being glued.

- The glued slats then move on to the “lead” laying machine. This is positioned specifically to lay the “leads” into the grooves of the slats.

- The second set of slats are flipped on to their front and are run through a glue applicator, they are then dropped on top of the leaded slats forming a wooden sandwich shape.

- A plunger squeezes top and bottom together with a ton of pressure, and compresses it as it dries.

- Once dry the newly layered slats are moved along another conveyor belt, beneath a saw which cuts three sides into each pencil section. They are then moved above a similar saw which cuts another three sides into the lower section of the pencil. This in turn separates each pencil which made up the slat into the final individual shapes.

- Finally the strength of the pencils are tested by an individual’s performance from each batch. They are then coated and painting before being automatically sharpened on a grinding wheel.

�

Finally they are ready to be shipped out all over the world. The process of their creation has now been industrialised to keep up with modern demand and popularity. But it has barely changed since powdered graphite and clay were first fired in a kiln, and encased within two pieces of hand carved wood approximately 300 years ago.

Milk: How Is It ‘Made’?

how is milk made

The milk that we drink and use on a daily basis is generally created through a number of processes, the first of which is performed entirely by the animal which we intend to use for milking. In the western world this is generally cows and goats, although a host of other animals are used for dairy farming all over the world including donkeys, reindeer, horses, yak, sheep, buffalo and horses.

The production and lactation of milk is a natural occurrence in all maternal animals which fall under the category of a mammalian species. It wasn’t until the “discovery” or rather, the invention of agriculture during our Neolithic revolution that we started to obtain milk from newly domesticated animals. Since then the techniques used to obtain and produce milk has gone from strength to strength, gathering new and efficient processes over time.

After the milk is extracted by which ever means there are a number of processes which can be, and normally are performed before the milk is considered safe and ready for consumption.

Pasteurisation is the process in which the harmful or dangerous microorganisms within milk are killed by heating it for short time, and then cooling it again in order to store it for transportation. This process does also cause a reduction in the concentration of vitamin B12 as well as a twenty percent loss in vitamin C in the milk. Although it is a small price to pay for the sterilisation of the milk we drink a new process has been developed called ultra pasteurization also known as ultra-high temperature treatment. This means the milk is heated to a higher temperature in a much shorter period of time, which in turn gives it a much longer shelf life and means it does not have to be refrigerated. This form of milk is generally known as UHT or “long life” milk.

The next group of processes are not always performed although generally most milk is now homogenised which is a treatment that, when performed prevents a layer of cream from separating out of the milk. In this process the milk is pumped through narrow tubes at a very high level of pressure which breaks up fat globules through turbulence. Homogenisation is always performed in connection with, and either directly before or during pasteurisation to prevent exposed fat globules being broken down to produce rancid flavours, which is due to enzymes which are already present in milk.

In most cases pasteurised milk which has been left to rest for a certain length of time separates itself into two forms. A thinner liquid remains below and a thicker creamier solution forms on the surface, which is often removed and sold on as a different product. This process can now be sped up using a centrifugal separator which simply rotates at high speeds to cause the process to happen manually.

Each of these processes goes into the creation of milk which seems a long way from its origins as an agricultural drink, which was simply manually extracted from a small group of domesticated animals. In any case it seems as if we’ve come a long way from our discoveries during the Neolithic revolution.