High Purity
Aluminium
High
Performance
Solutions
Hydro is a global aluminium company with production, sales and trading activities throughout the value chain, from bauxite, alumina and energy generation to the production of primary aluminium and rolled products as well as recycling. Based in Norway, the com-pany has 13,000 employees involved in activities in more than 50 countries on all continents. Rooted in more than a century of experience in renewable energy production, technology development and progressive partnerships, Hydro is com-mitted to strengthening the viability of the customers and communities we serve.
Our Mission
Hydro’s mission is to create a more viable society by developing natural resources and products in innovative and efficient ways. Our Values Courage Respect Cooperation Determination Foresight Our Talents
Building businesses that matter. A passion for social commerce.
Always looking for commercial solutions. Making the most of what’s available.
Our Mission
Our Values
Our Talents
Hydro – our Company
As the most comprehensive supplier of high purity aluminium, all our activities have one common target: to create the highest and sustainable quality standards
in close cooperation with our customers and to offer them tailor-made solu-tions in line with their
individu-al requirements.
High Purity Worldwide
The global need and consumption of high purity aluminium as well as the applica-tions are steadily increasing. Whether for electrolytic capacitor foils, the semicon-ductor industry, TFT LCD applications, high purity alumina, photovoltaic cells, decorative uses or for electronic storage systems, high purity aluminium is a necessity in all high-tech products. In order to meet the stringent and increasing requirements of high purity aluminium users, Hydro set up the High Purity Business Unit with manufactur-ing facilities in Vigeland (Norway), Grevenbroich (Germany) and a sales and technical support office in Tokyo (Japan). All three locations excel in competence resulting in reliability and defined quality, a prerequisite to meet the extremely high demands of such users.
Our employees are highly qualified and have the necessary experience and know-how in metallurgy, manufacturing technology (metal purification and cast-ing) and application technology as well as in trace analysis.
Our customers also profit from our flat organizational structure. There is only one management team defining sales and marketing strategies and all manu-facturing units use the same technical standards. However, customers can take full advantage of our commercial and technical customer support via the local sales offices.
There are just a few companies in the world which have the competence and know-how to sustainably manufacture high purity aluminium on a top quality level. The extreme purity of the metal can only be reached using complex refining technologies.
It is not only necessary to remove or reduce the concentration of impurities such as Silicon, Copper and Iron just to mention a few but also to reduce the alpha emitters such as Uranium and Thorium to a predetermined level. We also have the ability to alloy elements even in the ppm range according to customers’ require-ments.
We use the 3-layer electrolysis as well as segregation (fractional crystallization) technology to refine our aluminium. Only by combining these two technologies can we fulfill the requirements of the customers and reach the desired character-istics and composition of the high purity aluminium.
In close combination, our plants in Norway and Germany cover the complete range of production processes:
• 3-layer electrolysis - 4N and higher • Segregation - 5N and higher
• 4N and 5N continuous casting - slabs and round billets
• 4N and 5N static casting - pigs, ingots, pyramids and special customer applied shapes
• Slab and round billet cutting to defined lengths
• Slab homogenization
Comp lex
Refining
Technologies
The basic material for our overall busi-ness – Raffinal® is produced in our 3-layer electrolysis. The purity of this aluminium is measured in parts per million (ppm) and ranges from 99.99% to 99.998%. Raffinal® is sold directly to the market, remelt and cast into different shapes or used as a semi-finished product in further refining processes.
The high quality standards set by leading electronics companies are reflected in the specifications we need to meet in order to supply the capacitor foil, high purity alumina, hard disc and bright trim/deco-rative industries.
Raffinal® can be delivered in different shapes – sheet ingots, billets, ingots, pigs or even in small shapes such as pyramids. Our products are mato-measure de-pending on customer requirements and technical parameters so that they can be integrated into the customer’s pro-duction process without any problems.
We are continually improving the produc-tion and value chain in close cooperaproduc-tion with our partners and customers. This results in an even more efficient process chain as well as generating ideas that contribute towards developing new and innovative products. This gives our cus-tomers the opportunity to discover new applications, open up new markets, create efficiency and sustainable viability.
For applications which demand the absolute highest purity, we can offer our Kryal® products. This super high purity aluminium is measured in parts per billi-on (ppb) of remaining elements. Imagine, 1ppb would mean determining 1 single second in a time frame of 31 years. Super high purity aluminium from 5N to 6N is commonly used in the semiconduc-tor industries in sputtering and thin film applications. Kryal® is an essential raw material in the production of sputtering targets used in the processing of micro-processors and memory chips.
99.999
High Purity aluminium sputtering targets are also used to create the aluminium metallization coating in the flat panel display (FPD) and liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing process. This state of the art product is also used as a starting material in the process to produce high purity alumina.
Kryal® is sold unalloyed in the shape of pigs, sheet ingots, round billets, small and large ingots and small pyramids.
Kryal® is produced in very close coope-ration with our customers. All products are tailor-made according to the special applications and needs of our customers. Products are always of a constant high quality meeting the stringent standards of the semiconductor and flat panel display industries. This generates long term sup-plier-customer relationships and alliances.
Final Products
and Consumer Applications
More or less all of our products, whether 4N Raffinal
®
or 5N Kryal®
are finally used for numerous and very complex applications in the electronics industry. High conductivity, low impurity levels, optimal processing characteristics and sustainable supply make 5N Kryal®
a natural choice as starting material in the semiconductor value chain: Sputter-ing target -> processed wafer -> chip -> electronic devices. Hydro Aluminium High Purity cooperates closely with all the major semiconductor sputtering target manufacturers.Low impurity levels also make 4N Raffinal
®
a traditional basic ingredient in electrolytic capacitor foil which is used in the manufacturing of energy storage capacitors.4N Raffinal
®
is also used to manufacture foil and sheets used in decorative and bright finish applications.Flat panel displays are today a constant aspect in our lives and continually in our field of vision. The use of such displays is standard practice in all communication, entertainment and information devices. Once again it is the high conductivity, low impurity levels, optimal processing char-acteristics as well as flexibility in shape and size of starting material products that have made 5N Kryal
®
a household name in the flat panel display target industry.Final Products and Consumer Applications
High purity alumina processed from either 4N8 Raffinal
®
or 5N Kryal®
is one of the main raw materials used to man-ufacture components for separators for Li-ion batteries and medical and cosmetic applications. However, the major applica-tion with the highest potential is the use of high purity alumina to manufacture synthetic mono-crystal sapphires. These are processed into the substrates used in the manufacturing of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). LEDs are less damaging to the environment and have a very small carbon footprint due to their extremely low energy consumption and long life-time. LEDs are now used in the majority of electrical devices requiring a backing light. As more and more governments ban the use of incandescent light bulbs, it is only a matter of time before LED light completely replaces traditional lighting for domestic, commercial and industrial applications.Our laboratories in Grevenbroich and Vigeland are equipped with state of the art apparatus and highly qualified staff to ensure the highest level of quality and dependability across the complete produc-tion process – from raw material to final product. The instruments include Glow Discharge Mass Spectrometers (GDMS) which can detect trace impurities in the parts per billion range, Optical Emission Spectrometers (OES), Atomic Absorption Spectrometers (AAS), Hydrogen Analys-ers (HMAT), equipment to measure the hydrogen content in the liquid aluminium during production (ALSCAN) as well as ultrasonic detection equipment.
Packaging
Additionally to the chemical composition analysis and dimensions inspection, every product undergoes a stringent visual check before leaving our facilities. A large num-ber of our 4N Raffinal
®
and 5N Kryal®
products are actually manually handled, inspected, cleaned and professionally packed. The use of wooden crates author-ized for export and long transport periods ensure that products reach our customers without any incidents and completely unscathed.Top class management system and door to door quality
Our activities in process capability guarantee a sustainable and reproducible quality and innovative ideas for high performance products. However, our top tier performance comes from com-petent and motivated highly qualified employees who are prepared to commit themselves to our policy of supplying only high quality products.
Our integrated management system com-prises of quality management according to ISO 9001:2008, environmental man-agement ISO 14001:2009, health and safety OHSAS 18001:2007 as well as a “proposal and idea manage-ment system”.
These high standards are followed precisely even until our customers receive the products. Stringent and exacting inspections and controls ensure that the products are packed and transported with the utmost of care so that they reach our customers without any incidents and completely unscathed.
The Grevenbroich facility is also AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) certi-fied. The goal of introducing the AEO is to continuously safeguard the complete international supply chain from manufac-turer of a product to the end-user (see flow chart). An AEO holds a unique status and is recognized as especially trustworthy and reliable.
Entry into
Point of
Production
Preparation
of Tranport
and Export
Documents
Storage at
Point of
Departure
Preparation
of Export
& Customs
Documents
Loading onto
Transport
Vehicle/Ship
Preparation
of Import &
Customs
Documents
Transport to
point of
Destination
Entry into
Point of
Destination
Customs
Clearance &
Transport
Documents
Production
Packaging
Storage
Customer Satisfaction Survey
Top class management system and door to door quality
Entry into
Point of
Production
Preparation
of Tranport
and Export
Documents
Collection
from
Warehouse
Transport
to Point of
Departure
Entry into
Point of
Departure
Customs
Clearance &
Transport
Documents
Customer Satisfaction Surveys are conducted annually with continual top marks. Feedback is used to introduce countermeasures to customers’ claims and suggestions.
Transport
to final
Destination
Hydro Aluminium High Purity GmbH Aluminiumstrasse 2 41515 Grevenbroich Germany Phone: +49 2181 662443 Fax: +49 2181 661101 [email protected] www.hydro.com
Hydro Aluminium Japan KK
Shin-Otemachi Building 2F 2-2-1 Otemachi Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0004 Japan Phone: +81 2 5255 5101 Fax: +81 2 5255 5102 [email protected] www.hydro.com
Norsk Hydro ASA
Drammensveien 260 0283 Oslo Norway Phone: +47 22 538100 Fax: +47 22 537930 www.hydro.com
