I'm not for sure, but it seems that aluminum alloys are used because staraight aluminum does have a high conductivity, and it's not needed, so aluminum alloys are used instead. I don't really understand the explanation of the change in terms of bonding and alloying, but you might want to try to reduce an aluminum alloy in a salt-water medium (electrolytic), using a battery and anode(s). If you do it right, the pure aluminum will precipitate out of the aqueous electrolyte solution and the alloy's electrons will either form another metal(s) or stay in that solution until the battery is disconnected. I don't know much about aluminum, but I've been interested in refining PGM (platinum group metals) and gold, and an iShore machine is the easiest way to do that process. But, yeah, it has to do with the electrons; after all, those are what makes up one element from another close-by...with the proton count and neutron of course, but still...all matter is made of the same stuff in different quantities of those 3, plus whatever new science is discovering, like sub-particles.