Why it matters, commodity
Primary aluminum
Light conductor and structural metal smelted from alumina with large electricity input. Substitutes for copper in cables and some windings.
- Depends on
- 0
- Depended on by
- 1
- Metrics
- 0
Neighbourhood: what depends on it (left), what it depends on (right)
- Candidate
- Hypothesized
- Mechanism supported
- Causally supported
- Established relation
Systems that would feel a shortage
Downstream: what depends on it
Power transformer requires input Primary aluminum2 evidenceEstablished relation
Power transformer depends on Primary aluminum.
Mechanism
Aluminum is the alternative winding conductor and is used in tank and structural parts; it is lighter and cheaper per unit of conductance but needs more volume.
Evidence
- documentUSGS, Aluminum statistics and informationusgs.govEnd uses in transportation, electrical and construction; substitution with copper.checked 2026-09-07
- documentIEA, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitionsiea.orgCopper and aluminum intensity of grids and electrical equipment.checked 2026-09-07
Substitutes for Primary aluminum
- copper Copper windings where space and strength matter.
- Status
- established_identity_or_engineering_relation
- Reviewer confidence
- 0.90
- Stated strength
- 0.40
- Lag
- not stated
- Version
- curated_seed_v1
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-07
Confidence and strength are curated judgements recorded with the edge, not measured quantities.
Inputs it cannot do without
Upstream: what it depends on
No stored inputs for this entity.
Measured, from the catalog
Linked metrics
No catalog metric is linked to this entity yet.
Named on the edges that depend on it
Substitutes
- Refined copper
Copper windings where space and strength matter.
on edge Power transformer to Primary aluminum Established relation
Derived from curated edges
Bottleneck centrality
- Score
- 1.74
- Downstream entities
- 10
- Direct dependents
- 1
Sum over every entity downstream (within six hops) of the strongest path weight to it, where each edge weighs its stated strength divided by one plus its named substitutes. A graph statistic over curated edges, not an observation. Computed 2026-09-07 22:42 UTC.
Edges without a dependency direction
Associations
Primary aluminum substitutes for Refined copper2 evidenceMechanism supported
Association, no dependency direction.
Mechanism
Aluminum substitutes for copper in power cables, busbars and some transformer windings where weight and cost outweigh its lower conductivity.
Evidence
- documentUSGS, Copper statistics and informationusgs.govEnd uses (building construction, electrical and electronic products) and substitutes (aluminum in power cables and some transformer windings).checked 2026-09-07
- documentUSGS, Aluminum statistics and informationusgs.govEnd uses in transportation, electrical and construction; substitution with copper.checked 2026-09-07
- Status
- mechanism_supported
- Reviewer confidence
- 0.90
- Stated strength
- not stated
- Lag
- not stated
- Version
- curated_seed_v1
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-07
Confidence and strength are curated judgements recorded with the edge, not measured quantities.
Curated paths this entity is part of
Chains
Names that resolve to this node
Aliases
- Al
- aluminium
- primary aluminum
- usgs: aluminum (aluminum)
slug aluminum, updated 2026-09-07 22:42 UTC