-> Essentially all beverage containers in the United States are manufactured 
-> from aluminum, whereas beverage cans made in Europe and Asia are 
-> approximately 55 percent steel, and 45 percent aluminum alloy. 
  
I know that Sapporo beer, from Japan, comes in aluminum cans. Actually, 
they're often large screw-cap bottles, which can be resealed, but 
they're still aluminum. 
  
Do you mean that 55% of European cans are steel, or that somehow the 
steel and aluminum are used together in the same can? 
  
When I fed my cats last night, I noticed that the can looked like 
aluminum. I tried the magnet test, and sure enough there was no 
attraction. Other types of cat food comes in steel cans, though. The 
aluminum cans must have thicker walls than the ones of aluminum 
beverage cans. They're quite rigid, even with no internal pressure. 
  
I still think the effect of pressure, making a very thin-walled can 
effectively rigid, must enter into the economic calculations. It 
reminds me of some early space rockets, which would virtually collapse 
under their own weight, except for the pressure of the fuel in them 
keeping the metal stretched tight. 
  
                             dow 
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5