The launch of the new Ford F-150 (AKA our favorite topic over the past year or so) was the biggest step towards mainstream usage of aluminum in by auto manufacturers. While the unveiling was met with a mix of excitement, curiosity, and skepticism, the reviews wound up showing that Ford made the right choice. Now, the popular opinion has changed — rather than the F-150 being Ford’s giant gamble, automakers around the world see it as a critical choice that will change the industry. From the Detroit Free Press:

By 2025, 18% of all vehicles will have all-aluminum bodies, up from less than 1% now, according to a recent report from Ducker Worldwide.

The industry is now engaged in a conversation about the pratfalls and possible solutions of using aluminum on a high-volume vehicle. The challenges are being solved with new ways of joining aluminum and steel, manufacturing with speed and efficiency, crashworthiness and repairability, cost and consumer acceptance.

Ducker forecasts that next-decade aluminum will be used for 75% of the panels and parts on pickups, 24% of large cars, 22% of SUVs and 18% of minivans.

The F-150 is an industry catalyst, said Gary Silberg, national auto industry leader at KPMG. “They’re figuring it out. People are studying it and making it a reality.”

From questionable decision to industry catalyst — the F-150 has come a long way since its unveiling at the Detroit Auto Show, and it hasn’t even gone on public sale yet. But in the coming months, people will be able to find out for themselves. Chances are, they’ll be just as impressed as the rest of the industry.

We often discuss aluminum in the manufacturing process on this blog, whether that process is for something as big Ford’s flagship pick-up truck or the latest smartphone from Samsung or Apple. But what about out in nature?

While aluminum is a natural element usually found in the earth’s crust, it’s a very reactive elemnt and is usually found as a compound (combined with other minerals). So can pure aluminum actually be found? From American Minerologist via i09:

Several papers reporting exotic native elements have been published within the last few decades. The “native” occurrences described are rather dubious in view of the lack of solid proof of their relationships with the host-rock minerals. Consequently, the genetic models proposed ranging from bio-reduction to the influence of deep-mantle, strongly reduced fluids, are somewhat speculative. Here we present data for a unique Al0 flake protruding from the phlogopite matrix of a rock specimen collected from a desilicated pegmatite vein. The geologic setting suggests two processes that might have played a key role in the Al0 formation: (1) desilication of pegmatite, resulting in its Al residual enrichment; and (2) serpentinization of an ultramafic body, providing a strongly reduced front (H2 and hydrocarbons) toward the serpentinite/pegmatite contact. These processes have presumably led to the reduction of Al to Al0 at discrete sites of alumina-rich minerals.

If you understand what that means, then you’re a better scientist than we are. But for the laymen that just like to work with aluminum as a material, here’s the short version: the answer is yes, but only in extremely rare circumstances.