Journal of Materials Processing Technology 135 (2003) 117124

A new technique for recycling aluminium scrap

M. Samuel*
Department of Production Engineering and Machine Design, Faculty of Engineering,
Mansoura University, 35516 Mansoura, Egypt
Received 1 February 2001; received in revised form 11 March 2002; accepted 11 December 2002

Abstract
During the various steps of aluminium production from liquid metal, a lot of scrap is generated due to machining operations. Therefore,
recycling of aluminium scrap is an interesting subject because of the broad applications of this metal and low efciency of processes used to
recycle metal scrap.
This paper introduces a new direct technique for recycling aluminium scrap with low energy consumption and cost without intervening
metallurgical processes. Measured properties include green density, compressive strength, and hardness. Experimental results obtained show
that the direct technique for recycled aluminium provides high productivity and about 80% green density (before sintering). In addition, the
new technique provides very low air pollution emission and high metal saving as compared with conventional methods.
# 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Recycling; Aluminium scrap; Direct conversion

1. Introduction
A growing amount of particulate aluminium scrap from
the machining of seminished products is difcult to recycle
by conventional methods [1,2]. The conventional recovery
(only 7581% during the melting step) [3], high generation
of new scrap (about 25% of new scrap is produced during
casting), high energy consumption (6000 kcal/kg are
required for remelting scrap) [4], high operation costs due
to the large number of operations, and high pollution
(mainly due to fumes and dross generated during the remelting of the scrap) [5].
Considering metal losses and comparing the costs
involved, one can asses the efciency of the present recycling methods. Such assessment is presented in [5] for
aluminium scrap recycled by continuous extrusion according to the conform method [6] used in industrial installations.
In the process of melting aluminium scrap, about 12% of
the metal is burnt and about 10% of it is lost because
aluminium mixes with the slag removed from the surface
of the molten metal [5,7,8]. These losses are irreversible and
can reach about 38% if melting takes place in gas- or oilred furnaces instead to induction furnaces. The main cause
*

Fax: 20-50-2244-690.
E-mail address: magdy_samuel@hotmail.com (M. Samuel).

of the substantial losses of aluminium scrap during conventional recycling is its low density which causes it to stay for
rather a long time on the surface of the molten metal and
oxidise intensively. There are further losses during casting,
such as riser, shrink holes and so on, which may reach 8%.
Later, during the processing (extrusion, forging, etc.) of
aluminium ingots, there are losses amounting to about
20%. Therefore, ultimately no more than 52% of the metal
is recovered.
With the new technique, recycling of aluminium scrap is
carried out without melting phase. Fig. 1 shows a ow chart
for the conventional and the new techniques for direct scrap
conversion into extruded products. It can be seen that the
new technique is characterised by fewer steps, a higher efciency of recovery, and low generation of new scrap. Fig. 2
shows a comparison between conventional process and
direct conversion process. From this gure, it can be seen
that the conventional process produces about 52%, whereas
the direct conversion process introduced here produces
about 96% of the extruded products.
2. Process description
Scrap may collected from dealers or directly from
machine shops. The extent and nature of foreign materials
present in the scrap depend on the care taken during

0924-0136/03/$ see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0924-0136(02)01133-0

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M. Samuel / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 135 (2003) 117124

Fig. 1. Flow charts of recycling aluminium scrap: (a) by conventional method [4]; (b) direct conversion method.

Fig. 2. Comparison between (a) conventional process and (b) new technique by direct conversion method.

collection. Foreign materials and large oversize particles are

rstly removed from the scrap. These vary in content from
0.3 to 25% by weight depending on how carefully the
collection processes are carried out.

Aluminium scrap is still contaminated by oil and moisture

derived from cooling emulsion. A variety of chemical
methods may be used to remove emulsion from the chips
[9,10], but usually they are too expensive and produce more

M. Samuel / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 135 (2003) 117124

119

Fig. 3. Special milling machine for aluminium scrap [10]: 1cutter; 2fixed knife; 3upper body; 4sieve; 5hopper; 6machine base; 7covering;
8fixed knife holder; 9scrap regulator.

environmental pollution. Therefore, purifying aluminium

scrap from oil emulsion by thermal methods is preferred,
taking into account that the thermal cleaning process is carried
out without deposition of carburisation products of the scrap.
The scrap was comminuted in a milling machine designed
specially for this purpose [10]. Fig. 3 shows a photograph of
the machine. Grading of comminuted scrap is performed
using standard sieves and only two sizes of the granulated
aluminium produced, namely from 0.5 to 2.0 mm and
<0.5 mm will be used.
For each of the above mentioned sizes, milling is done by
an attritor-type machine of high-power ball mill which
rotates 300 rpm horizontally. The milling machine dimensions are 130 mm inside diameter and 150 mm long. The
20 mm diameter ball was made of hardened chromium steel.
The weight ratio of the milling balls to the granulated
aluminium is chosen as 10:1 and loading of the granulated
aluminium takes place in air [11].
Magnets are used for separating ferrous particles. This can
be carried out manually using a magnetic separator. This
operation is of particular importance to separate the very ne
hard oxide particles from the hardened steel balls during
milling. These iron oxide particles, if mixed with the
granulated aluminium, can lead to problems during sintering

(due to the high melting point) which in turn results in

strength loss [1215].
Due to the prior operations on the granulated aluminium
and the subsequent milling, the hardness of the aluminium
particles is greatly increased. Thus, the granulated aluminium is annealed under low pressure to soften the aluminium
particles and to reduce the springback action. The annealing
process is carried out in a mufe furnace under a controlled
atmosphere in the super saturation temperature range of
490505 8C, for periods of 60110 min, and the aluminium
particles encapsulated with a pure aluminium can. The
annealed aluminium is then quenched in warm water at
40 8C. Fig. 4 shows the aluminium scrap and milled particles
for different size.
Chemical cleaning is used for removing surface oxides
from annealed granulated aluminium. This cleaning operation is often performed as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.

a bath of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at 6577 8C;

hot water rinse;
chromic acid bright dip;
hot water rinse.

The cleaned granulated aluminium is dried at a temperature of 80100 8C in ovens and preserved in desiccators.

Fig. 4. Aluminium scrap and milled powder for different sizes.

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M. Samuel / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 135 (2003) 117124

Table 1
Processing cost breakdown (US$/kg)
Aluminium
scrap

Foreign material
removal

Milling

Magnetic
separation

Sieving

Chemical
cleaning

Annealing

Total cost

1.01

0.04

0.38

0.02

0.15

0.28

0.27

2.15

A typical experimental chemical analysis of granulated

scrap is 92.4% AlCu4Mg, 3.9% Cu, 0.55% Mg, 0.6% Mn,
0.7% Si, 0.1% Ni, 0.7% Fe, 0.3% Zn, and 0.2% Ti by weight.
In comparison, the composition of the conventional commercial alloy powder (PC) is 92.9% AlCu4Mg1, 3.8% Cu,
0.62% Mg, 0.64% Mn, 0.73% Si, 0.09% Ni, 0.6% Fe, 0.32%
Zn, and 0.29% Ti. From the above comparison, it is noticed
that the product from the new direct method has similar
chemical specications to the product from conventional
recycling.
3. Cost analysis
It is found that the cost of the powder produced from
aluminium scrap is US$2.15/kg (see Table 1), whereas the
cost of the commercial aluminium powder from the conventional method is about US$5.3/kg. Table 2 shows a
comparison of cost analysis between a new technique and
conventional method [16].
From the above discussion and Table 2, it should be
emphasised that the new direct conversion method of aluminium scrap into compact metal results in 95% energy,
46% material, and 7790% labour savings as compared with
powder metallurgy (PM) technique:
saving cost %

5:3

2:15
 100 59%
5:3

4. Evaluation of green properties

Two schemes of processing are used to evaluate the
green properties of the granulated aluminium particles.
Table 2
A comparison for cost analysis between a new technique and conventional
method

Energy consumption (kWh/t)

No. of operations (man hours/t)
Labour of the product
Production of ingots
Production of billets
Production of final sections
Material saving (%/t)

Fig. 5. Schematic of processing steps for production of powder from

aluminium scrap. LA1 and LA2 are the large sizes before and after
cleaning, respectively. SA1 and SA2 are the small sizes before and after
cleaning, respectively.

These are shown in Fig. 5. In each scheme, two aluminium

particle sizes are considered (0.52.0 mm referred to as LA
and size <0.5 mm referred to as SA). For each size, the
granulated aluminium was mixed with 1.5% lithium stearate
(CH3(CH2)16COOLi) using a double cone blender.
A separate compacting process was performed for each
powder prepared from aluminium scrap and conventional
atomised aluminium powder (PC). The compaction device is
shown in Fig. 6.
The green compactness was evaluated and characterised
with respect to green density, compressive strength and
hardness. The extent of particles interlocking was assessed
by examination of fracture surface morphology.

New technique

Conventional
method

5. Results and discussion

30

600

5.1. Green density

2.46.5

96

1216
3
5
4
52

The effect of cold compacting pressure and particle size

on green density is shown in Fig. 7, where the compacting
pressure for commercial aluminium powder is chosen in the
range of 200360 MPa. From this gure it is seen that the
cleaned and annealed powder in the case of sizes (SA2 and

M. Samuel / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 135 (2003) 117124

121

Fig. 6. Compaction device.

Fig. 7. Effect of compaction pressure on green density ratio at different size of aluminium particles.

LA2) exhibit the higher green density as compared with the

same size without cleaning and annealing. This is due to the
reduction in oxide content and impurities as well as softening of the powder in the prior annealing step [17]. The
minimum compacting pressure required to obtain above
results was about 360 MPa for the large aluminium powder
(LA) and 200 MPa for the small aluminium powder (SA).
This is compared to 360 MPa required for commercial
aluminium powder (PC).
Note that, the billet minimum green density should not be
<60% [18] so that the billet can be handled easily on the
following operations (e.g. sintering, extrusion, etc.).

Differences in green density between the commercial

aluminium compacts (PC) and those prepared from powder
using scrap (LA and SA) are tabulated in Table 3. Note that
the sensitivity of measurements is s 4%.
5.2. Compressive strength
To study the compressive strength property, cylindrical
compact samples of 40 mm diameter and aspect ratio of 1.5
were prepared. Results showing the effect of compaction
pressure on the compressive strength are shown in Fig. 8.
From this gure, it is seen that the cleaned and annealed

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M. Samuel / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 135 (2003) 117124

Table 3
Effect of pressure variation on density ratio (%)
Precompacting
pressure
(MPa)

Small particle
size (SA)
(<0.5 mm)

Large particle
size (LA) (from
0.2 to 0.5 mm)

Commercial
aluminium
powder (PC)

200
260
360

0.53
0.64
0.69

0.98
1.12
1.63

0.99
1.25
1.27

fabricated in a double action die and ve readings were

taken for each sample. Average hardness readings are shown
in Fig. 9. At a given compacting pressure of 300 MPa, it
is seen that the cleaned and annealed powder in the case
of sizes (SA2 and LA2) achieves the highest hardness
as compared with the same sizes without cleaning and
annealing.
5.4. Compact morphologies

powder the case of size (SA2 and LA2) exhibit the highest
strength as compared with the same size without cleaning
and annealing. This is understood in terms of the softer
deformable powder promoting particle contact interlocking.
5.3. Hardness
This property was studied using Brinell hardness with a
2.5 mm ball under a load of 153.28 N. Compacts were

Contact between powder particles is determined by three

factors, namely the particles' size and shape, the distribution
of size and shape, and the extent of die-wall and admixed
lubricant. Enhancement of particles interlocking will
increase the green strength of the compact. Scanning electron micrographs of the top surface of compacts reveals that
a high degree of particle interlocking develops during
compacting. Representative examples are illustrated for
the large aluminium powder size (LA) in Figs. 10 and 11.

Fig. 8. Compressive strength of compacts as a function of compaction pressure at different size of aluminium particles.

Fig. 9. Brinell hardness as a function of compaction pressure and aluminium particles size.

M. Samuel / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 135 (2003) 117124

Fig. 10. Top surface of green compact, 2.00.5 mm, LA2 powder
compacted at 360 MPa (SEM).

123

Fig. 13. Fracture surface of green compact, <0.5 mm, SA2 powder
compacted at 360 MPa (SEM).

density, 213% in compressive strength, and 1829% in

Brinell hardness No. as compared to the PC method at
360 MPa. However, this deciency can be overcome by
using reinforcement bres (e.g. Al2O3). Moreover, the cost
saving for the product from the new method is very high
(about 41%), which enhances the applications of the new
product in several engineering industries.
6. Conclusions

Fig. 11. Top surface of green compact, <0.5 mm, SA2 powder compacted
at 360 MPa (SEM).

Fig. 12. Fracture surface of green compact, 2.00.5 mm, LA2 powder
compacted at 360 MPa (SEM).

Similarly, examination of compact fracture surfaces in the

scanning electron microscope conrms sound particle interlocking in compacts prepared from powders processed from
aluminium scrap. Fracture surfaces from SA and LA size
powders are shown in Figs. 12 and 13. It is found that the
green strength is perfectly sufcient for handling and transportation prior to sintering.
From the above results, it can be noticed that the results
from the new method are inferior by about 912% in green

The direct conversion technique introduced in this paper is

characterised by low energy consumption, large metal savings,
and very low air pollution emission as compared with conventional methods. Moreover, the new technique provides the
following advantages over the conventional methods: (1)
powder suitable for the production of green compacts can
be processed from aluminium scrap; (2) the chemical cleaning
operation introduced in this technique removes the oxide lm
from the aluminium surface, which results in high green
density (about 80% before sintering); (3) the cost of the product
is about 59% of the conventional aluminium powder cost.
As an extension to the work reported here, a research work
is going on producing new aluminium alloys to be used in
high strength applications at room and elevated temperatures
up to 360 8C.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to acknowledge the support of Prof. J.
Gronostajski (D.SC) and Prof. A. Matuszak (D.SC) of Metal
Forming Institute, Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland.
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M. Samuel / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 135 (2003) 117124

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