Essential Tips for Recycling High-Performance Alloys
High-performance alloys — or superalloys — are critical to the operation of aerospace and marine turbine engines, mainly because the metals can operate close to their melting point. Moreover, superior mechanical strength and resistance to high temperatures and corrosion make high performance alloys the best choice for applications in extreme conditions. That said, the alloying elements of high-performance alloys are rare, consequently contributing to their scarcity. For this reason, it is essential to recycle high-performance alloys to enhance supply. This article highlights tips for recycling high-performance metal alloys.
Focus on Valuable, Rare Elements -- As mentioned earlier, high-performance alloys are made of a mixture of different rare metals. However, some of the elements more valuable than others and deserve more attention concerning recycling. However, this is something most newbie metal recyclers are not aware of. Therefore, they spend a lot of time trying to process large amounts of metals to separate every element in an alloy. However, it is a wrong approach because one or two rare elements in the alloy might be much more valuable than all the other metals in the same material. For instance, the price of palladium — a precious rare metal in superalloys — is currently worth thousands of dollars. This means that you are better off focusing your recycling resources on separating and purifying palladium compared to the less valuable metals present in the alloy.
Do Not Scrape Precious Coatings -- Metal recyclers often require metal collectors to scrape metal coatings before selling metal scraps. It is because some coatings contain impurities that can affect the quality of recycled metal as well as the recycling process. However, this is different when working with high-performance scrap alloys because most are coated with precious metals. For instance, titanium-coated metal alloys are used widely in marine applications, particularly on turbines. They are capable of withstanding the aggressive seawater environment laden with contaminants. Therefore, it is critical to leave precious metal coatings on high-performance alloys mainly because they add value to scrap metal during recycling.
Obtain Certificate of Disposal -- Since high-performance alloys are used to produce critical components of machines in marine and aerospace applications, commercial secrecy is paramount. Therefore, it is rare for manufacturers to dispose of superalloy scrap metals with other ordinary metal parts. Notably, a recycler must ensure that all high-performance alloy metal parts are disposed of through the issuance of a certificate of disposal, which is an indication that propriety technology is protected.
Reach out to a professional who provides metal recycling services for more information.
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