9 years ago I wrote the first post about The good and the bad about recycled aluminium. Since then recycled aluminium has become a hot topic and this year´s Aluminium - World Trade Fair in Dusseldorf - Aluminium 2018 has dedicated a lot of energy into this subject.
One of the articles in their news room is about recycled aluminium,
RECYCLING: CHALLENGES FOR ALUMINIUM AS AN INDUSTRIAL MATERIAL
A short informative note about challenges, mentioning that there are no qualitative differences between aluminium alloys made from the primary and those made from recycled aluminium.Is this always true - not really, especially when looking at the result obtained when anodizing aluminium.
Here you have to be aware of the following:
- Heavy metals
- Metallurgical structure
- Traceability
- Repeatability/Consistency
- Consistent recycled stock
So it should not
be difficult to use more recycled aluminum for anodizing. It only requires a
minimum amount of adjustment to arrive at the present alloy composition, which
works well for anodizing. So this should not be the reason for not using
recycled aluminum when anodizing.
From an
environmental viewpoint, anodizing is a very unique process. It does not
require the use of organic solvents, which may cause unwanted atmospheric
emissions and the amount of sludge can be diminished by using new processes as
the acid etch.
Finally anodized
extrusions and castings can be readily recycled without the need for special
emission control equipment, so no VOC or other hazardous chemicals are emitted
to the air.
If you find this article useful and you would like to know more please contact me blog@aluconsult.com
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