A number of chemists realized how important it was to find a less expensive way to prepare aluminum. In 1883, Russian chemist V. A. Tyurin found a less expensive way to produce pure aluminum. He passed an electric current through a molten (melted) mixture of cryolite and sodium chloride (ordinary table salt). Cryolite is sodium aluminum fluoride . Over the next few years, similar methods for isolating aluminum were developed by other chemists in Europe.

The most dramatic breakthrough in aluminum research was made by a college student in the United States. Charles Martin Hall (1863-1914) was a student at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, when he became interested in the problem of producing aluminum. Using homemade equipment in a woodshed behind his home, he achieved success by passing an electric current through a molten mixture of cryolite and aluminum oxide .

Hall's method was far cheaper than any previous method. After his discovery, the price of aluminum fell from about $20/kg ($10/lb) to less than $1/kg (about $.40/lb). Hall's research changed aluminum from a semi-precious metal to one that could be used for many everyday products.

See More At £ºwww.yikai-aluminum.com