Aluminium Planters

Aluminium planters are an incredibly popular sight in many gardens and outdoor spaces thanks to the variety of colours, shapes and finishes. Its ability to withstand the weather and resist corrosion are other reasons why you’ll see aluminium planters so often.

Aluminium planters are made using high quality materials formed into a range of shapes and sizes suitable for planters.

Aluminium is ideal for use outside as it’s weather and stain-resistant, hardwearing and can be cut, shaped, formed and welded.

Common uses

Aluminium planters are often seen in home gardens, commercial buildings, hotel entrances, pub gardens, outdoor dining areas, dividers for outside spaces and attractive alternatives to traffic bollards.

The natural sheen of aluminium, plus the uses it can be put to makes the material incredibly popular. It is used in everything from aircraft to components, ducting to precision tools.

How it’s made

Aluminium is the third most plentiful element on earth, and apparently makes up around 8% of the crust. The metal is made from aluminium oxide ore which comes from bauxite ore.

Aluminium is made using a multi-step process.

First the bauxite ore is crushed and mixed with caustic soda and water to create a slurry. The aluminium oxide dissolves in the water, which is the start of the process.

That slurry is sent to a digester and heated under pressure to create a sodium aluminate solution.

The solution is then passed to a settling tank where it cools. As the aluminium oxide dissolves, non-aluminium elements settle at the bottom of the tank and will be processed separately.

The liquid solution is pumped through a series of filters to remove more impurities before ending up in the precipitation tanks. Here crystals of alumina hydrate are added to the solution.

Almina hydrate attracts the aluminium within the solution, creating large crystals. The crystals sink to the bottom of the tank and are removed to be cleaned and smelted into the metal we know so well.

Random facts about aluminium

Aluminium used to be regarded as more precious than gold. Napoleon III apparently used to serve dinner to his best guests with aluminium plates and those of lower standing with gold.

Benefits of aluminium

Aluminium has many benefits, including its abundance and the fact it can be fully recycled.

Aluminium is also lightweight, corrosion resistant, conductive to both heat and electricity, ductile, impermeable and odourless.

Aluminium is also 100% recyclable. It retains all its core properties when recycled so can be infinitely reused when processed properly.

In the right hands, aluminium can be cut, shaped, welded and formed into a huge variety of products, including aluminium planters.

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