Aluminum nanocrystalline powder production from aluminum alloy scrap by solid state recycling method

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MSc student, Faculty of Materials Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

2 Professor, Faculty of Materials Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Abstract
Introduction: : The purpose of this research is solid state recycling of 3000 and 5000 series aluminum alloy scrap to produce aluminum nano-crystalline powder by mechanical milling without using process controlling agent. In this regard, aluminum used beverage cans (UBCs) which consist of lid (alloy 5182) and the monolith part (alloy 3004) of the body (thin) and bottom (thicker).
Methods: To achieve disintegration mechanism, lid part, body and bottom of monolith part are separated each other because of diverse constituent of Al series and different thickness. The three parts individually were decoated then cut into the small chips (app. 8 mm). The chips were mechanically ball milled at different times up to 104 hours under argon atmosphere. The ratio of ball to powder was 10 to 1.   
Findings: The lid part chips are crushed faster than the monolith part chips, and, resulting in a finer powder. According to the PSA results, the D90 of the lid powder is less than 150 micrometers; while D90 of the body and bottom powders are more than 150 micrometers. This result can be used on an industrial scale to separate the constituent elements of crushed UBCs from each other. The smallest D90 values of lid, body and bottom powders, which obtained after 72, 80 and 80 h as optimum milling time, are 109, 258 and 391, respectively. Also, their flowability were 57.8, 59.3 and 61.1 s/50 g, as well as the apparent density were 1.38, 1.43 and 1.46 g/cm3, respectively.

Keywords


  1. PARASKEVAS, D., KELLENS, K., DEWULF, W. and DUFLOU, J. R. 2015. Environmental modelling of aluminium recycling: a Life Cycle Assessment tool for sustainable metal management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 105, 357-370.
  2. Rojas-Díaz, L., Verano-Jiménez, L.E., Muñoz-García, E., Esguerra-Arce, J. and Esguerra-Arce, A. 2020. Production and characterization of aluminum powder derived from mechanical saw chips and its processing through powder metallurgy. Powder Technology, 360, 301-311.
  3. KHAING, H. Y. and KYWE, T. T. 2011. PRODUCTION OF FINE ALUMINUM POWDER FROM METALLIC ALUMINUM. The 5th PSU-UNS International Conference on Engineering and Technology, Songkhla. Faculty of Engineering, 47-51.
  4. TAGHIABADI, R., ROSTAMABADI, A., TASVIBI, S. and SHAERI, M. H. 2020. Increasing the recycling percent in liquid-state recycling of Al machining chips by friction stir processing. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 243, 122627.
  5. PARASKEVAS, D., VANMEENSEL, K., VLEUGELS, J., DEWULF, W., DENG, Y. and DUFLOU, J. R. 2014. Spark Plasma Sintering As a Solid-State Recycling Technique: The Case of Aluminum Alloy Scrap Consolidation. Materials, 7, 5664-5687.
  6. GRONOSTAJSKI, J., MARCINIAK, H. and MATUSZAK, A. 2000. New methods of aluminium and aluminium-alloy chips recycling. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 106, 34–39.
  7. DUFLOU, J. R., TEKKAYA, A. E., HAASE, M., WELO, T., VANMEENSEL, K., KELLENS, K., DEWULF, W. and PARASKEVAS, D. 2015. Environmental assessment of solid state recycling routes for aluminium alloys: Can solid state processes significantly reduce the environmental impact of aluminium recycling? CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology, 1-4.
  8. CHIBA, R. & YOSHIMURA, M. 2015. Solid-state recycling of aluminium alloy swarf into c-channel by hot extrusion. Journal of Manufacturing Processes, 17, 1–8.
  9. MEHTEDI, M. E., FORCELLESE, A., SIMONCINI, M. and SPIGARELLI, S. 2018. A sustainable solid state recycling of pure aluminum by means of friction stir extrusion process (FSE). AIP Conference Proceedings. American Institute of Physics, 030004-1–030004-6.
  10. AHMAD, A., LAJIS, M. A., YUSUF, N. K. and WAGIMAN, A. 2016. HOT PRESS FORGING AS THE DIRECT RECYCLING TECHNIQUE OF ALUMINIUM – A REVIEW. ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 11, 2258-2265.
  11. El Mehtedi, M., Buonadonna, P., Carta, M., El Mohtadi, R., Mele, A. and Morea, D. 2023. Sustainability Study of a New Solid-State Aluminum Chips Recycling Process: A Life Cycle Assessment Approach. Sustainability, 15(14), 11434.
  12. PANDEY, A. K., PRAJAPATI, N., NAYAK, K. C. and DATE, P. P. 2019. Sustainable manufacturing process for recycling of aluminum alloy waste into direct product by high-pressure torsion process. Materials Today: Proceedings, 18, 3099–3108.
  13. Jiang, A., Wang, F., Xia, D., Li, M., Qiang, L., Zhu, Z., Wang, P., Fan, R., Lin, K. and Yang, Y. 2019. Aluminum nanoparticles manufactured using a ball-milling method with ammonium chloride as a grinding aid: achieving energy release at low temperature. New Journal of Chemistry, 43(4), 1851-1856.
  14. GORRASI, G. and SORRENTINO, A. 2015. Mechanical milling as a technology to produce structural and functional bio-nanocomposites. The Royal Society of Chemistry, 1-16.
  15. El-Eskandarany, M. S., Al-Hazza, A., Al-Hajji, L. A., Ali, N., Al-Duweesh, A. A., Banyan, M. and Al-Ajmi, F. 2021. Mechanical milling: a superior nanotechnological tool for fabrication of nanocrystalline and nanocomposite materials. Nanomaterials, 11(10), 2484.
  16. YADAV, T. P., YADAV, R. M. and SINGH, D. P. 2012. Mechanical Milling: a Top Down Approach for the Synthesis of Nanomaterials and Nanocomposites. Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 22-48.
  17. Shuai, C., He, C., Peng, S., Qi, F., Wang, G., Min, A., Yang, W. and Wang, W. 2021. Mechanical alloying of immiscible metallic systems: process, microstructure, and mechanism. Advanced Engineering Materials, 23(4), 2001098.
  18. ALSAFFAR, K. A. and BDEIR, L. M. H. 2008. Recycling of Aluminum Beverage Cans. Journal of Engineering and Development, 12, 157-163.
  19. Zolotorevskiy, V., Pozdniakov, A.V. and Khvan, A.V. 2011. Thermodynamic calculations of the effective solidification range and its relation to hot cracking of aluminum-based ternary alloys. Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals, 52(1), 50-55.
  20. von Hehl, A. and Krug, P. 2013. Aluminum and aluminum alloys. Structural materials and processes in transportation, pp.49-112.
  21. Carrasco, C., Inzunza, G., Camurri, C., Rodríguez, C., Radovic, L., Soldera, F. and Suarez, S., 2014. Optimization of mechanical properties of Al-metal matrix composite produced by direct fusion of beverage cans. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 617, 146-155.
  22. Liu, C. X., Qi, G. and Li, P. 2022. Crashworthy characteristics of sustainable thin-walled tubes: A study on recycled beverage cans. Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, 29(22), 3222-3236.