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Aluminum’s unique ability to be recycled an infinite number of times presents a definitive example of sustainability. It remains essentially unchanged no matter how many times it is processed and used. Therefore, it can be considered as a material with permanent characteristics, one that is not consumed, but used over and over again, without the loss of its essential properties. This lecture deals with the recycling of aluminum alloy waste with the emphasis on aluminum scraps of smaller dimensions such as chips obtained by different machining methods. The process of aluminum alloy chips recycling was presented, in which metal foams with open and closed cells were produced. Different types of aluminum alloys and different pore forming agents were investigated. The intention was to recycle the chips, without re-melting, i.e. in a solid or semi-solid state. This process is more energy efficient than the traditional approach and involves significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions, resulting from avoiding the re-melting stage, one feature which is typical for the conventional recycling process. Some of the most important properties such as mechanical and chemical properties were investigated. In the second part of the lecture, the machinability of produced metal foams was presented. The machining strategy as well as the applied machining parameters were examined. This research was conducted within the project “Recycling of aluminum alloys in solid and semisolid state” financed by the Croatian Science Foundation. |
