Machinery Casting Scrap More Used by Secondary Al Alloy Makers

The supply and demand balance is rather tightening for aluminium machinery casting scrap in Japan. The backgrounds are that the scrap generation has decreased in domestic market in recent years and that secondary aluminium alloy makers are currently suffered from higher sub material costs especially for metallic silicon. Secondary aluminium alloy makers are using machinery casting scrap, which contains more metallic silicon than other aluminium scrap, in order to decrease the usage volume of metallic silicon.Machinery casting scrap generates in handling of used automotive engines. Aluminium scrap dealers used to purchase machinery casting scrap from auto dismantlers before. In recent years, auto dismantlers tend to pass engine scrap to engine scrappers. Then scrap dealers became unable to procure machinery casting scrap enough from auto dismantlers. In addition, Japanese export of used automobiles increased after automobile recycling law became effective in Japan in 2005. As a result, domestic generation of machinery casting scrap has decreased.Alloyed aluminium makers need to minimize magnesium content in secondary aluminium alloy. Machinery casting scrap contains magnesium at about 0.25%, which is rather less than other aluminium scrap, and metallic silicon at 9%, higher than other scrap. ADC12 (Japanese Industrial Standard) can be easily made by putting slight volume of metallic silicon to machinery casting scrap.