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6 MARKET SPOTLIGHT
FEEDBACK
READER SEEKS
STABILITY DATA
I recently read the article “Tita-
nium: A Metal for the Aerospace Age—
Part I” (March issue) and found it very
informative. I ama product engineer
for amedical devicemanufacturer in
the dental industry and one product we
make uses titanium (6Al-4V-Grade 5).
As part of our regulatory requirements,
a component of our design history file
and technical file covers the stability
of materials used in our products. Can
anyone recommend specific publica-
tions or other resources (such as test
reports) that would help provide stabili-
ty data (data that addresses negligible
changes tomaterial properties over
time) to fulfill this requirement? Any
pertinent information would be helpful.
Mark Albrecht
METALLURGICAL
URBAN LEGEND?
Unfortunately I don’t have a
library-quality source for this, but
somewhere inmy education as a
metallurgical engineer I was told that
very early in Alcoa’s history, their sta-
tionery was inadvertently printed with
“aluminum” rather than “aluminium,”
and they didn’t have enoughmoney to
change it. However, the company did
fairly well after that and its dominance
of the aluminummarket in North Amer-
ica led to the official adoption of that
spelling in the U.S.
Greg Whiting
We welcome all comments and
suggestions. Send letters to
.
GLOBAL COPPER DEMAND TO REACH $261 BILLION BY 2019
According to World Cop-
per, a new report from The
Freedonia Group Inc., Cleve-
land, global demand for cop-
per metal (produced from
refined copper and recycled
scrap) is projected to grow
4.2% per year through 2019
to 36 million metric tons, val-
ued at $261 billion. Significant
gains in building construction
expenditures are expected to
boost the use of copper wire,
tube, and other mill prod-
ucts in applications such as
building wire and plumbing.
Increased infrastructure in-
vestment, particularly in de-
veloping countries, will further
benefit copper suppliers as updates to
national power grids drive the produc-
tion of wire and cable. In addition, ad-
vances in global manufacturing output
are expected to bolster copper use in
transportation equipment, industrial
machinery, domestic appliances, and
other durable goods. However, compe-
tition from alternative materials such
as plastic pipe in plumbing applications
will restrain growth, say analysts.
China drives the global coppermet-
al market, accounting formore than 40%
of world demand in 2014. The country’s
massive building construction and elec-
trical and electronic sectors consume
huge volumes of copper for produc-
ing electrical wire, pipe, personal and
business electronics, and telecommu-
nications equipment. Advances in con-
struction spending are also projected to
fuel copper demand in North America,
particularly in the U.S., where building
construction activity will significantly
accelerate compared to 2009-2014.
Global copper mine production is
expected to rise 3.7% per year to 22.6
million metric tons in 2019. Rapid annu-
al increases are forecast for countries
such as Canada, Mexico, and Zambia,
where ongoing development of copper
projects will spur gains. In Central and
South America, Peru is projected to
post robust gains in copper mine out-
put, supported by accelerated mining
activity and development of addition-
al deposits. In the refining sector, the
Asia/Pacific region is expected to see
the fastest annual gains in production,
led by increased output in China and
India. Electrolytic refining of primary
copper will continue to represent the
major method of production in these
countries.
The top five suppliers of refined
copper, Corporación Nacional del
Cobre de Chile (Codelco), Freeport-
McMoRan (U.S.), Jiangxi Copper (Chi-
na), Glencore (Switzerland), and Auru-
bis (Germany), produced a combined
7 million metric tons of refined copper
in 2014, accounting for 31% of glob-
al output. For more information, visit
.
Source: The Freedonia Group Inc.