CA1205041A - Method of segregating metallic components and removing fines therefrom - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure In a process of fragmenting and segregating shredded metallic components fabricated from different aluminum alloys in which a fragmented component is provided, a method of removing fines for purposes of enhancing segregation of the alloys, the method comprising the steps of providing a feedstock comprised of said metallic components, said alloys having different incipient melting temperatures, the feedstock is shredded and thereafter screened to remove fines therefrom having at least sizes in a size range of the fragment component. The feedstock is heated to effect incipient melting of the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature and agitated sufficiently to cause the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature to fragment. The fragmented components are segregated from the unfragmented feedstock.

Description

This lnvention relates to used containers fabricated at least in part from difEererlt metals or alloys, and more particularly, this invention relates to a method or process for reclamation of used containers, such as be~erage containers, in a manner which permits recovery or segregation of container components substantially in accordance with their compositions, for example, or composition types.
In the packaging or container field, such as -the used beverage containers having at least one or more components thereof fabricated from aluminum alloys, there has been ever-increasing interest and extensive research into methods of reclaiming the aluminum components. The interest has been precipitated by the importance of conserving resources and caring for environmental problems.
However, heretofore recycling such materials has been greatly hampered by the lack of a method which would be economically attractive. For example, attempts to recycle a beverage can having a body fabrica-ted from one aluminum alloy and a top or lid constructed from a different aluminum alloy often results in an aluminum melt having the composîtion of neither alloy. Such melt greatly decreases in value because i-t does not readily lend i-tself to reuse in the can body or lid without major dilutions, p-urifications and realloying or other modifications. That is, it can be seen that there is a great need for a method of recycling containers of the type, for example, described wherein the different components thereof are recovered and segregated according to alloy or according to alloy type.
The problem of segrega-tion of different alloys is ,P~D~
recognized in U.S. Patent 3,736,896, where there is disclosed the separating of aluminum alloy tops or lids from steel bodied cans by me'lting a small 'band of aluminum around the periphery of the can body to provide a separating area allowing separation of the aluminum end from the steel cylindrical body. In this disclosure, induction heating is used to melt the band wherein an encircling inductor surrounds a bead and is connected to a high frequency power supply. However 9 this approach seems to presume that a used beverage can is not crushed and the end remains perfectly circular. Further, to melt the ends off in this manner would not seem to be economical since the ends would have to be removed individually.
In U.S. Patent 4,016,003, containers having aluminum alloy 'bodies and lids are shredded to particles in the range of l to 1-1/2 inch and then su'bjected to temperatures of around 700F to remove paints and lacquers.
ln addition, U.S. Patent 4,269,632 indicates that since the conventional alloys for can ends, e.g., Aluminum Association (AA alloy) 5182, 50~2 or 5052, and for can bodies, e.g., ~A
3004 or AA3003, differ significantly in composition, and in the manufactured can, the end and body are essentially inseparable, and that an economical recycle system requires the use of the entire can. U.S. Patent 4,269,632 further notes that the recycling of cans results in a melt composition which differs significan-tly from the compositions of both the conventional can end and can body alloys. In this patent, it is sugges-ted that bo-t'h can end and body be fabricated from the same al,loy to obviate the recycling problem. With respect to can ends and bodies made 5~

from AA5182 and 3004, it is indicated -that normally pure aluminum must be added regardless of the alloy prepared.
In view of these proble~ls with recycling metal containers, such as aluminum beverage containers having components thereof comprised of different alloys, it would be advantageous to have a method which would permit recovery of the containers by segregating the components thereof according to their a]loys or segregating the components lo according to their alloy type. That is 9 by segregation of the components prior to melting, the components can be melted and refabricated in accordance with normal procedures without, inter alia, expensive dilutions or purification steps.
An object of this invention is to provide a feedstock comprised of said metallic components, said alloys having different incipient melting temperatures.
Another object of the present invention is to shred said feedstock and thereafter screen to remove fines therefrom having at least sizes in a size range of the fragment component.
Yet another object of the present invention is to heat the feedstock to effect incipient melting of the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature and agitate sufficiently to cause the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature to fragment.
And yet another object of the present lnvention is to segregate the fragmented components from the unfragmented feedstock.
These and other objects will become apparent from the drawings, specification and claims appended hereto.

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In accordance with these objects, there is disclGse~
a method of detaching and segregating me-tallic components secured to metallic articles, the segregation being made in accordance with with alloy composition of the componen-ts. The method comprises the s-teps of providing articles having at least two components thereon comprised of different aluminum alloys and heating the articles to a temperature sufficiently high to initiate incipient melting of -the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature. While the articles are held at or slightly above the lowes-t incipient melting temperature of said aluminum alloy componen-t, they are subjec-ted to agitation sufficient to cause the aluminum alloy component having the lowest incipient melting tempera-ture l~o fracture and detach itselE from the article.
According -to one aspect of the present invention there is provided in a process of fragmenting and segregating shredded metallic components fabricated from different aluminum alloys in which a fragmented component is provided, a me-thod of removing fines for purposes of enhancing segregation of -the alloys, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a feeds-tock comprised of said metallic components, said alloys having different incipient melting temperatures; ~b) shredding said feedstock; (c) screening said shredded feedstock to remove fines -therefrom having at least sizes in a size range of the fragment component; (d) heating the feeds-tock to effect incipi-ent melting of the componen-t having the lowest incipient melting temperature; (e) agitating said heated feedstock sufficien-tly to cause said component having the lowes-t incipien-t melting temperature to fragment; and (f) segrega-ting said fragmented components from -the unfragmented feedstock.
According to ano-ther aspec-t of the present invention 5~

there is provided in a process of fragmenting and segregating shredded metallic containers fabricated from different aluminum alloys in which a fragmented componen-t is provided, a method of removing fines for purposes of enhancing segrega-tion oE the alloys, the method comprisirg the steps oE: (a) providing a feedstock comprised of said metallic containers, said alloys having different incipient melting temperatures; (b) shredding said feedstock; (c) screening said shredded feedstock and removing 1 to 15 wt.% of said feedstock as fines therefrom, the fines having at least sizes in a size range of the fragment component; (d) heating the feedstock to effect incipien-t melt-ing of the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature; (e) agitating said heated feedstock sufficiently to cause said component having the lowest incipient melting temperature to fragmen-t; and (f) segregating said fragmented components from the unfragmented feedstock.
Thereafter, the fractured and detached components are segrega-ted from the articles and recovered.
Figure 1 is a flow sheet illustrating steps which ~0 can be used in removing fines in a process for recycling used aluminum containers.
Figure 2 is a bar graph showing the particle size distribution of materiaL entering and exiting the furnace at a temperature of 1060F.
Figure 3 is a bar graph showing the par-ticle size distribution of material entering and exiting the furnace at a temperature of 1080F.
Figure 4 is a bar graph showing the particle size distribution of ma-terial entering and exiting the furnace a-t a temperature of 1100F.
Figure 5 is a bar graph showing -the par-ticle size - 4a -~ 5 ~

distribution of material entering and exiting the furnace at a temperature of 1120F.
Referring to the flow sheet, used articles from which the aluminum alloy components are to be recovered or reclaimed may comprise containers such as food and beverage containers. Containers to which the process is suited are used beverage containers comprised of two different aluminum alloys, From the flo~ sheet, it will be noted that the articles to be recovered may be subjected to preliminary sorting to remove ~aterials which would contaminate the aluminum alloy to be recovered. For example, it would be desirable to remove glass bottles and steel cans such as used :Eor food, for example. Further, it is desirable to remove other materials such as dirt and sand, etc., in order to cut do~l on the amount of silicon, for example, that can occur in the reclaimed alloy. Elimination of these materials can permit use of the alloy reclaimed in accordance with the present invention without further purification procedures. The removal of steel preliminarily, as may be present in the form of containers or cans or other sources, aids in keeping the iron in the reclaimed alloy to a level which does not adversely affect the reclaimed alloy properties.
When the materials to be reclaimed are food or beverage containers, these are normally packaged in bales for shipping purposes and, therefore, prior to the sorting step, the bales would normally be broken apart to remove the foreign materials.
The bales may be subjected to a shredding type operation for purposes of breaking them apart. ~fter -the 51~

shredding operation, the feedstock should be screened for purposes o~ removing metal fines Eor purposes set forth in detail hereinbelow. As shown in Figure 1, the fines may be ~ubjected ~o a delacquering step and then recombined with a compatible fraction of the feedstock in accordance with the invention and eventually melted.
After the shredding and screening step, the shredded feedstock can be subjected to a delacquering step.
This may be accomplished by solvent or thermal treatments.
The delacquering removes the coatings, such as decorative and protective coatings, which can contain elements such as titanium which in high levels is not normally desirable in the aluminum alloys being reclaimed. When solvent delacquering is used, it is usually desirable to shred or pierce the containers in order to permit the solvent to drain therefrom. When the coatings are removed by thermal treatments~ the temperature used is normally in the range of 600 to 1000F.
In the ne~t step of the process, particularly where the containers are used beverage containers having bodies formed from Aluminum Association alloy (AA) 3004 and having lids formed from M5182, for example, the containers are heated to a temperature at which the AA5182 lid becomes fracture sensitive. This temperature has been found to correlate closely with the incipient melting or grain boundary melting temperature of the alloy.
Thus, in reference to used beverage contaîners, this is the incipient melting temperature of A~5182. By the use of incipient melting or grain boundary melting temperature herein is meant the lower temperatures o~ the P5~

melting range or phase melting range and sligh~ly below at which the alloy develops or significantly increases in fracture sensitivity or a-t which fragrnentation of the alloy can be made to occur wi-thout the use of great force. That is, in the fracture sensitive condition, fragmentation can be made to occur by the use of a ~umbling action or falling action, and the use of forces such as would be obtained by a hammer mill or jaw crushers are not required. Forces such as encountered with a hammer mill or jaw crusher are detrimental to the instant process since they act to crush the containers, for example, thereby trapping material to be separated. It will be appreciated that many alloys have different incipient melting temperatures. For example, AA3004 has an incipient melting temperature of about 1165F
and ~A5182 has an incipient mel~ing temperature of about 1077F ancl has a phase melting range of about 1077F to 1178F. However, it will be appreciated -that this range can vary depending to a large extent on the exact composition of the alloy usedO Incipient or grain boundary melting of the alloy greatly reduces its strength and sets up the fracture condition. Thus, the M5182 lids can be detached or removed from the AA3004 bodies because of the lids being provided in a condition which makes i-t highly sensitive ~o fracture and fragmentation. While in this condition, energy, e.g., tumbling action~ can be applied for purposes of de-taching or removing the lid from the can body. The detaching resul~s primarily from the lid fracturing or fragmenting -to provide lid particles which are not only smaller than the can body but generally smaller than a lid.
Thus, after the detaching step, there results a charge or mass comprised of can bodies and fragrnented lids, the can bodies being comprised of an alloy or material different from the fragmented lids, the fragmented lids having a particle size dis~ribution substantially different frorn the can bodies. Thus, 1~ can be seen -that not only is i-t important to remove the lid from the can body, but the lid fragments must have a particle size which ls substantially dif:Eerent from the can body. For purposes of obtaining a product or alloy which is not adversely con~.ami-nated with the alloy with which it is commingled, the charge is subjected to a treatment for purposes of classifying or segregating the particles. When this aspect of the process is carried out, the result is lid fragments or values comprised of substantially the same alloys which are segre-gated from the can bodies.
While the process has been described in general terms with respect to reclamation of used beverage cans, it should be understood that the feedstock for the process is not necessarily limited thereto. That is, the process is capable of classifying aluminum alloys, particularly wrough-t alloys, where one of the alloys can be made fracture sensitive or put in a condition where one of -the alloys can be fragmented preferentially in order to obtain a particle size dis-tribution which is different from the particle sizes of the other alloys. In this way, a partition of the alloys can be made. Thus, for example, the feed stock for reclamation may be comprised of used beverage containers having bodies fabricated from AA3004 and lids fabricated from AA51820 Other alloys which may be used for llds include M5082, 5052 and 5042 (Table X). However, other alloys which ~lay be used for food or beverage can bodies include alloys such as M3003, AA3104, AA50~2 and AA5052 (Table I~). If such alloys are high in magnesium, for example, it is required that such can bodies be fractured or fragmented sufficiently to enable them to be classified with the lid alloys, such as AA5182. Thus, it will be understood that the process of the present invention is not only capable of removing and classifying lids from can bodies, as noted herein, but it is also capable of classifying the alloys in the can bodies with the lids when the alloys are of similar composition and which respond in a similar manner with respect to fracture or fragmentation characteristics, as explained herein.
In addition, where the containers have bodies and lids fabricated from the same alloy, that too may be reclaimed by classifying in accordance with the present invention. For example, if can body and lids are fabricated from sheet having the composition 0.1-1.0 wt.% Si, 0~01-Oo9 wt~% Fe, 0.05-0.4 wt.% Cu, 0.4 to 1.0 wt.% Mn, 1.3-2.5 wt.%
Mg and 0-0.2 wt.% Ti, the remainder aluminum, this would be classified in accordance with the invention. That is, if the feedstock to be reclaimed comprises used containers fabricated from mixed a]loys such as 3004, 5182, 5042, as well as the can body and lid alloy above, this alloy would be expected to be classified with the AA3004 body stock because no incipient melting would occur when -the temperature was sufficiently high to cause fracture of AA5182 or AA5042.
I.ikewise, if steel containers having 5182 lid attached thereto are present in the feedstock, the lids can be classi~ied in accordance wlth khe invention and the steel bodies would be recovered with 300l~ can bodies. The steel container bodies can be separated from the aluminum alloys with which they may be classified by magnetic separation eans, for example, aEter the lids have been removed. IE
the steel bodied containers had lids which fractured at temperatures in the AA300~1 incipient melting range, then it would be necessary to heat the containers to a higher temperature as compared to AA5182 to effect a separation of the lid from the steel body after which the steel bodies could be removed by magnetic separation, for example.
From the above, it will be seen that the process of the present invention is rather insensitive to the aluminum feedstock being recovered. That is, the process is capable of handling most types of aluminum alloys and is particularly suited to recovering and classifying wrought alloy products such as is encountered in used containers.
If the scrap were comprised of aluminum alloys used in automobiles, for e~ample, AA6009 and AA60l0, as described in U.S. Patent 4,082~578 herein incorporated by reference, where the use can be hoods and doors, etc., it may be desirable to subject such articles to a shreddlng action to provide a generally flowable mass. Or in recovering ~A2036 and AA5182 from used automobiles, it may be desirable to shred such products and then effect a separation, as noted herein.
~ith respect to grain toundary melting or incipient melting oE one oE the aluminum alloy components to effect fracture sensi~ivlty or fragmentation, it will be understood that this is an important step of -the process and must be carried out with a certain amount of care. ~sing the used beverage cans as an example again, it will be noted that -temperature control is important in this step. That is, if the temperature is permitted to get too high, substantial melting of the A~5182 lid can occur, which can result in losses with respect to aluminum and magneslum because of oxidation. Temperatures which bring about substantial melting of the metal normally should be avoided for the addi~ional reason that it can result in coagulation of particles with mol-ten aluminum to form a mass which is not readily flowable when compared to finer discrete particles. Further, molten aluminum can stick to the furnace and start bullding a layer of metal and particles therein which, of course, interferes with the efficiencies of the whole operation. Also, classification of the congealed mass becomes much more difficult, if not impossibleO Lastly, on me:Lting, fines such as sand, glass, dirt and pigments or contaminants such as silicon o~ide, titanium oxide and iron oxide tend to become embedded i.n the molten metal, further making separation thereof difficult.
Thus, in view of the above, it can be seen why temperatures which result in substantial melting o~ one of the aluminum alloy components should be avoided.
Likewise, when temperatures are employed which are too low, the fracture sensitivity o~ the lids drop dramatically and resistance to fragmentation increases substantially with the result that separation becomes extremely difficult and often segregation camlot be effected. ~ccordingly, it will be seen that it is important to ha~e the temperature sufficiently high in order to remove ~ ~ h,~{~

the lid from the can 'body. For lids formed from M5182~
this temperature correlates to about the incipient melting temperature which is about L077F. The me:lting range for AA5182 is about 1077 to 1178F'. Thus, i the used beverage containers ar~ heated to 1100F, this is well below the melting range of AA3004 tabout 1165-1210F) and the lids can be detached or removed without fracturlng the can bodies.
With respect to grain boundary or incipient melting~ it will be understood that because the sheet from which the lids are fabricated has been rolled to a thin gauge, grains are not well defined. However, i-t is believed that recrys-tallization occurs when the used beverage containers are heated~ for example, to remove lacquer, which can occur at 850F, for example. Thus, grain boundary melting can occur.
When the used beverage containers were heated to about or slightly above llOO~F, generally it was found tha-t the M5182 ends sagged or slumped on the AA3004 can body.
However, when -~he containers were agitated at about this -temperature by permitting them to drop from a conveyor belt, for example, the lids were found to detach themselv~s from the can bodies and were divided or fragmented in small particles while ~he can bodies were relatively unchanged.
Agitation sufficient to detach the ends also may be effected in a rotary furnace or kiln while the used cans are heated to a temperature in the range of 1077 to about 1155F, wi~h a preferred range being 1077 to 1130F an,d typically not higher than 1120F. Agitation sufficient to remove the ends in the rotary furnace can be that which occurs at these temperatures when the cans are tumbled inside the furnace.

As noted hereinabove, forces such as obtained from hammering or by the use of jaw crushers should not be used because they act to flatten the cans or otherwise entrap the fragmented ends with the can bodies. As no~ed earlier, operating at temperatures high in the melting range can result in too much li~uid metal and the attendant problems therewith. The melting problem becomes particularly acute if the used beverage cans are held for a relatively long time at temperatures high in -the melting range. At temperatures in the range of 1077 to 1130F, the time at temperature can range from 30 seconds to less than 10 minutes.
In the classification step, the AA5182 fragments can be separated from whole can bodies or from can bodies which have been shredded by screening. However, it will be appreciated that other methods of separation may be used, all of which are contemplated to be within the purview of the present invention.
In another aspect of the invention, it has been found important to remove metal fines from the process.
That is, when it is found desirable to shred the aluminum articles, e.g., used aluminum materials such as used containers, it has been found that shredding results in the generation of a significant amount of fine metal referred to herein as fines. Normally, the generation of such fines would not be considered to be a significant problem~
~lowever, when beverage containers are processed to separate the lid.s from the container bodies, the lids are fragmen-ted as noted herein, and have a size range substantiall~ smaller than the bodies which permit separation therefrorn. However, 3 ~f ~5~

if th~ used materials, e.g., used beverage containers, are shredded prior to processing for separation purposes, the shredding can result in fines which are in the size range constituting ~he lid fragments. The fines generated by shredding ,in fact, can be said to contaminate the fragmented por~ion. For example, if the beverage can is constituted of 75 wto% AA3004 and 25 wt.% AAS182, the fines generated on shredding a feedstock comprised of such containers can have 93 wt.% of AA3004 and only 7 wt.%
AA5182. Thus, it will be seen that there is a great need to prevent this type of contamination in the present process.
Omitting the step of removing the fines results then in the fragmen~ed AA5182 portion being contamina-ted with AA3004 fines from the can bodies. Thus, it has been found that removing fines in the size range corresponding to the size range of the fragmen-ted portion being separa-ted from the container body portion results in substantially fragmented portions being substantially free of fines. The fines should be removed after the shredding step and before fragmenting step. One method of removing the fines can be the use of screens, although other techniques 9 such as air separation and the like, are contemplated within the purview of the invention.
When the feedstock used is beverage containers having, for example, AA3004 bodies and AA51~2 lids, af-ter shredding, the fines can constitute 1 to 15 wt.% or more of -the shredded feedstock.
In a test utilizing whole cans 9 the used beverage containers were processed in a test apparatus at about 1110F. The fragmented end pieces were 25.3% of the f~

delacquered can weight. The body parts represented 74.7%.
This sugges-ts that the aLloy separation was nearly 100%
effective, The two portions were melted and anal.yzed, The spectrographic results appear in Table VIII which may be compared ~o AA5182 and AA3004 (See Tables IX and X). These analyses further support that 100% separation of the two alloys is possible when the starting material is whole cans, The following provides an example of the contamination which can result from the fines generated by shredding. From Table X, the composition range for manganese in AA5182 is 0.20 to 0.50 wt.%. Normally, manufacturers of AA5182 maintain the manganese composition near the middle of this range, For purposes of the following examples, it is to be assumed that manganese concentration of 0.38% is desired.
If the process of shredding and subsequent fragmentation is performed on 100 units of used beverage containers, i-t has been found ln one instance that five units of fines generated in the shredding step had a manganese level of 1.10%, These are, therefore, composed almost entirely of AA3004. The fragmentation step produced 20 units of AA5182 with a manganese level. of 0.38%. If these 25 units are not separated but are collected together, then the resulting manganese level can be calculated to be 0.52%. This requires significarlt dllution to produce metal of 0.38% manganese.
Ln yet ano-ther example, if th.e process produces a shredded product or feedstock tha-t contains appro~imately 9 wt.% fines, the manganese level of -this material is 1.05 wt.%. If these 9 units were collected in the fragtnented portion to~ether with the 20 units of AA5182, the total 29 units would have a manganese level of 0.59 wt.%. Again, this requires significant dilution with pure aluminum to produce AA5182 having a manganese level of 0.3~ wt.%. Thus, it can be seen that it is important to remove the fines prior -~o their being commingled with the fragmented portion.
As further illustrative of the invention, used beverage cans having AA300l~ bodies and AA51~2 lids thereon were processed through a ro-tary-type kiln. Samples were taken of ingoing and exiting ma-terial for the rotary kiln at four different kiln set temperatures, as follows: 1060, 1080, 1100 and 1120~. Ingoing samples were taken which weighed about 15 kg ~35 lb). Approximately six minutes later, representing the residence time o used beverage cans in the kiln, about 45 kg (100 lb) Gf e~iting material was sampled.
Prior to entering the furnaces, bales of used beverage cans were processed through a shredder. The shredder in -the process of partially shredding most of the cans, generates some used beverage can fines. In the figures, the screen analyses of ingoing and exiting material are compared at each kiln set temperature to determine the degree to which end fragmentation occurs inside -the kiln.
This is recognized as a decrease in weigh-t of the coarser fractions and an increase in weight of the finer fractions.
The U.S. Standard Screen sizes that were used to fractionate the samples are listed i-n Table 1, together with the Tyler mesh equivalents.
Samples of each size fraction were melted and analyzed to monitor alloy partitioning and also -to measure ~'~r~

the amount of tramp impurity pickup.
The chemical composition of a sample makes it possible to calculate the relative amount of M 300~ and AA5182 present. This is done by assuming that AA3004 contains 1.10% manganese and that AA5182 contains 0.38%
manganese. A melt of used beverage cans having a manganese content of 0.92% can be shown to contain 75% of AA3004 material and 25% of AA5182 material. This calculation was done for each exiting fraction at the four kiln temperatures of the test. The amount of AA~182 calculated to be present appears as the totally shaded por-tion on the bar graphs in Figures 2-5.
Figure 2 shows the particle size distribution of ingoing and exiting material while the kiln set temperature was 1060F. The distribution of AA5182 in the exiting material is also shown. The recorded temperature during the sampling period ranged from 1030 to 1060F. The primary feature in the figure is that very little difference is seen in ~he size distribution of ingoing and exi~ing material.
It is also shown that the mix of AA5182 and AA3004 in the coarser exiting fractions is approximately 25% and 75%, respectively, which indicates that lid fragmentation did not appear to be occurring at this temperature.
Table II shows the spectrographic analysis of the metal found in each size fraction for both entering and exiting material. Again, ingoing and exiting material for a given size fraction appear to be very similar 3 except for magnesium.
There does) however, appear to be a variation in composition that is dependent on size fraction which -~ 5 ~

suggests that the crushing step, prior to delacquering, generates more body fines than end fines. The finer fractions exhibit elevated manganese levels and decreased ma~nesium levels when compared to the coarser fractions.
These finer fractions, therefore, appear to be richer in AA3004 content than the coarser ones. Wi-th the can body being thinner and accounting for a larger surface area of the can than the end, it may be expected that in shredding used beverage cans the body would produce more fines than would the end. The decreasing magnesium content with finer particle size may also reflect the increased magnesium oxidation incurred when melting the smaller sized material for analysis purposes. The -10 mesh material, both ingoing and exiting, did not contain sufficient metallic material to melt and produce a sa~ple for spectrographic analysis.
The data from samples taken while the kiln set temperature was 1080F and 1100F appear in Figures 3 and 4 and Tables III and IV, respectively. These samples show fragmentation of AA5182 lids inside the rotary l~iln.
Specifically, the amount of material present in the finer mesh fractions in the exiting material is increased when compared to the ingoing material~ and these fines have compositions that show AA5182 enrichment. This trend is more pronounced at 1100 than at 1080F.
The samples taken at 1120F show the strongest, de~initive evidence for AA5182 fragmentation inside the kiln. The two coarsest fractions have experienced a significant weight reduction after passing thro-ugh the kiln and the four finer fractions all show a significan-t weight increase (E'igure 5). The compositions of the fractions {,~S~

(Table V) show that the coarser fractions are nearly commercial grade composition o~ AA3004 and tha-t the finer material is nearly the commercial grade composition of AA5182. Comparing data for the 1060F and 1120F
experiments shows migration of AA5182 ~rom the coarse fractions to the fine fractions~
Table V shows that metal :Erom the -10 mesh fraction of the 1120F sample contains 0.50% silicon. This is very significant since this fraction represents approximately 30% of the AA5182 in the sys-tem. This material was furthPr screened down to determine the possibility o screening out the tramp silicon contaminants.
The results appear in Table VI. The tramp silicon apparently migrates to the -20 mesh fractions. The -25 mesh fraction contained such a large amount of non-metallic material that it could not be melted to prepare a sample for spectrographic analysis. Vis-ua] inspection revealed significant quantities of glass and sand. Chemical analysis of the -25 material appears in Table vI-r. This fraction contains only about 56% metallic aluminum. I'he sand and glass content is about 23 wt.%, and the tramp iron content about 1.7 wt.%. Discarding all -20 mesh rnaterial, to minimize tramp silicon and iron pickup, will contribute 2.2%
to the system loss. However, this material contributes substantially to skim generation and should be removed prior to melting for this reason.

'`5~

Table I
Screens Used to Fractionate the Samples U.S. Standard Tyler Mesh Screen Equivalent

2 inches 2 inches 1 inch 1 inch 0.5 inch 0.5 inch 0.265 inch 3 mesh No. 4 4 mesh No. 7 7 mesh No. 10 9 mesh No. 14 12 mesh No. 18 16 mesh No. 20 20 mcsh No. 25 24 mesh .~.2'r~

Table -LI
Chemical Analyses of In~oing (IN) and Exiting ~OUT) Material For Each SLze Fraction. Kiln Set Temperature: 1060F

Screen Si Fe Cu _Mn _ M~
-~2"
IN 17 41 .11 .90 1.19 OUT 17 41 .11 .91 1.23 IN .17 .41 .11 .92 1.22 OUT .18 .40 .10 .86 1.20 1/2" .16 .38 .10 .85 1.72 OUT .16 .39 .11 .86 1.02 -1/2"+0.265"
IN .17 .41 .11 .gl 1.19 OUT .17 .40 .11 .92 .78 ~0.265"+4 IN .21 .41 .12 1.00 .73 OUT .2l~ .42 .12 1.01 .78 -~+7 IN .37 .45 .14 1.06 .35 OUT .26 .45 .13 1.05 .68 -7+10 IN .24 .44 .13 1.06 .26 OUT .24 .48 .13 1.03 .54 -10*
IN
OUT
*Contained insufficient metal content for quantometer analysis.

:~ t',t~ D~

Table III
Chemical Analyses o:E Sl.ze Fractions Exiting -the Kiln at a Set Temperature: 1080F

Screen Si_ Fe _Cu Mn _ M~
-~2" .17 .39 .11 .95 .9~
-2"+1" .13 .39 .10 .911.05 -1"+1/2" .17 .39 .11 .gO1.10 -1/2"+0.265" .17 .39 .10 .871.03 -0.265"+4 .22 .38 .10 .831.63 -4+7 .18 .36 .09 .732.08 -7+10 .17 .32 .07 .602.70 -10 .23 .32 .11 .551.54 Table IV
Chemical Analyses of Size Fractions Exiting the Kiln at a Set Temperature: 1100 F

Screen Si Fe Cu Mn Mg ~2" .17 .l~l .12 .94 .48 -2"-~1" .18 .42 .12 .97 .66 -1"-~112" .19 .42 .12 .98 .6~
-1/2'l~0.265".18 .41 .12 .9~ .56 -0.265'l+4 .17 .35 .09 .731.36 -4+7 .15 .30 .19 .562.57 -7+10 .15 .29 .06 .462.15 -10* - - - - -Table V
Chemical Analyses of Size Fractions Exiting the Kiln at a Set Temperature: 1120F

U S
Screen Si Fe Cu Mn M~_ __ .___ -~2" .~9 .~4 .13 1.05 .58 -2"+1" .18 .43 .12 1.02 .66 ~ 1/2l' .18 .44 .12 1.03 .67 -1/2"+0.265" .18 .43 .12 1.02 .57 0.265"+4 .21 .37 .10 .82 1.61 -4+7 .17 .30 .07 .52 2.97 -7+10 .1~ .25 .05 .36 3.43 -10 .50 .29 .07 .36 3.35 Table VI
Chemical Analyses of Fractions Resulting From Further Fractionation of the Minus 10 Material Exiting ~he Kiln at Set Temperature 1120F

U.S.
Screen wt % Si Fe Cu Mn M~
-10-~14 2.6 .15 .27 .0~l .38 3.67 -14+18 1.9 .16 .28 .04 .38 3.82 -18+20 0.5 .21 .26 .04 .35 3.64 -2G+25 0.4 .35 .21 .05 .33 3.74 -25* 1.8 - - - - -*Contained insufficient metal content for quantometer analysis.

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Table VII
Analysis of Minus 25 Material. Exiting the Kiln at a Set Ternperature: 1120F

% Aluminum by Hydrogen Evolution 56.2%
Chemical Analysis: Al 56.7%
Fe 1.74%
Si 10.8%
Calculated SiO2 23.1%
% Magnetic Material 1.87%
X-ray Diffraction: Aluminum ~10%
Quartz ~10%
MgO ~ 10%
Unidentified e 10%

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Table VIII
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Various modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit thereof, or the scope of the claims, and therefore, the exact form shown is -to be taken as illustratlve only and not in a llmiting sense, and it is desi.red that only such limita-tions shall be placed thereon as are imposed by the prior art~ or are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

Claims (14)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a process of fragmenting and segregating shredded metallic components fabricated from different aluminum alloys in which a fragmented component is provided, a method of removing fines for purposes of enhancing segregation of the alloys, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a feedstock comprised of said metallic components, said alloys having different incipient melting temperatures; (b) shredding said feedstock; (c) screening said shredded feedstock to remove fines therefrom having at least sizes in a size range of the fragment component; (d) heating the feedstock to effect incipient melting of the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature; (e) agitating said heated feedstock sufficiently to cause said component having the lowest incipient melting temperature to fragment; and (f) segregating said fragmented components from the unfragmented feedstock.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein steps (d), (e) and (f) are repeated until all components comprising said feedstock are separated from one another.

3. The method in accordance with claim 1 including using feedstock comprised of used food and beverage containers.

4. The method in accordance with claim 3 including sorting the feedstock prior to shredding to remove contaminants including glass and steel containers.

5. The method in accordance with claim 1 including screening said shredded feedstock to remove fines therefrom.

6. The method in accordance with claim 1 including delacquering said fines to remove lacquers, decorative and protective coatings therefrom.

7. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the feedstock contains containers having a body portion fabricated from AA3004.

8. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the feedstock contains containers having body portions fabricated from an aluminum alloy selected from the group comprising AA3004, AA5042, AA3004, AA3104 and AA5052.

9. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the feedstock contains containers having body portions fabricated from an aluminum alloy selected from the group comprising AA3004, AA5042, AA3004, AA3104 and AA5052 and have ends on said containers fabricated from an aluminum alloy selected from the group comprising AA5182, AA5082, AA5052 and AA5042.

10. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the fines are removed using a No. 4 screen.

11. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein 1 to 15 wt.% fines are removed from the shredded feedstock.

12. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the fines removed are contaminants with respect to the fragmented components.

13, The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said feedstock contains containers having a body portion fabricated from AA3004 and a lid portion fabricated from AA5182 and wherein fines generated from shredding said feedstock contain from 75 to 95 wt.% AA3004.

14. In a process of fragmenting and segregating shredded metallic containers fabricated from different aluminum alloys in which a fragmented component is provided, a method of removing fines for purposes of enhancing segregation of the alloys, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a feedstock comprised of said metallic containers, said alloys having different incipient melting temperatures; (b) shredding said feedstock; (c) screening said shredded feedstock and removing 1 to 15 wt.% of said feedstock as fines therefrom, the fines having at least sizes in a size range of the fragment component; (d) heating the feedstock to effect incipient melting of the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature; (e) agitating said heated feedstock sufficiently to cause said component having the lowest incipient melting temperature to fragment; and (f) segregating said fragmented components from the unfragmented feedstock.