Aluminium research at CSIRO

CSIRO's mission is to deliver innovative solutions for industry, society and the environment through great science. Primary metal producers already have substantial in-house research and development (R&D) capability, but cannot afford to possess every possible relevant R&D capability. Therefore the opportunity for CSIRO is to provide R&D capability that no single metal producer can afford. This almost always involves a capability that can be applied to multiple fields. This means that CSIRO typically delivers the most value when it finds a niche between industry and universities, in an area in which it can be a global scientific leader. The minerals industry is extremely important to Australia, and CSIRO (with its partners) has invested over $50m in aluminium research in the last decade, covering the value chain from aluminium smelting through to aluminium products. With over 6,500 staff, CSIRO is fortunate to possess a wide range of research capabilities that can be applied to aluminium production, including metallurgy, modelling, materials science and information technology. CSIRO has a role in enhancing the competitiveness of existing processes, but also to develop new processes with a step-change improvement in performance. Two examples of each type will now be described for aluminium production.