How Aluminium Is Made Animation Apr 2026

The remaining clear liquid is cooled, causing white crystals to settle out [1, 6].

The white powder is dissolved in a giant steel vat filled with molten cryolite (a mineral that helps it melt at a lower temperature) [1, 6]. How Aluminium is made animation

This is the most dramatic part of the animation. Alumina is very stable; you can’t just melt it with fire to get the metal out. You have to "shock" it [1, 6]. The remaining clear liquid is cooled, causing white

The aluminum in the rock dissolves into the liquid, while the unwanted "red mud" (iron and silica) sinks to the bottom and is filtered out [1, 6]. Alumina is very stable; you can’t just melt

A giant "vacuum" ladle siphons the liquid silver from the bottom of the pot [1]. It is whisked away to a furnace where it's purified and mixed with other metals to make it stronger [1, 6]. Finally, it is poured into molds to create massive blocks called , or rolled into thin sheets [1, 6].

These crystals are baked in a rotary kiln at over 1,000°C [1, 6].

Massive carbon rods (anodes) are lowered into the vat, and a colossal electric current—hundreds of thousands of amperes—is surged through the liquid [1, 6].