Usuario:JewelLamontagne

Two Types of Metal, Ferrous and Non-Ferrous

When you talk about scrap metal, you will find two different types that are regularly referred to; Ferrous, and Non-Ferrous metals. In this post you'll understand the basic differences among these metals, how to determine the differences for yourself, and some resources where to find them.

Ferrous Metals

We'll first talk about ferrous metal. Ferrous metal is mostly used for things like machinery, cars, engines, farm implements, and other uses for example appliances, like stoves refrigerators, washers, dryers, and freezers. Lawn mowers are usually made from a combination of both ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Most of your smaller push type mowers, generally speaking, the motors are usually made from aluminum (a non-ferrous metal); however , the particular deck and handle assembly are made from ferrous metals.

How to Determine if the Metal You Are Looking at is Ferrous or Not

Two of the best ways to discern in case a piece of metal you are looking at is made of ferrous metals or not are these: Does a magnet stick to it? And, if it's an older piece of metal, is there any rust on it?

Does a magnets stick to it?

The biggest ingredient in ferrous metal is iron, or metal ore, which is a very magnetic materials. Therefore , if you always carry the magnet around with you, you'll know immediately if the piece of metal is ferrous or not. Of course , there are conditions to every rule, and stainless steel (another non-ferrous metal) is one of those exclusions. Even though the main component for making steel itself is iron, high quality stainless steel has a high amount of nickel inside it (another non-ferrous metal) and, therefore , a magnet will not stick to it.

Can there be any rust on it?

The second and usually more common way to determine whether the particular metal you have just found will be ferrous or not is if you can noticeably see any rust anywhere on the item. Rust will especially become more prevalent on any areas that were touching the ground. Obviously, if a well used piece of ferrous metal has been omitted in the elements, it's usually covered within rust, as a rule. Non-ferrous metals usually do not rust. They do, however , sometimes oxidize. We'll discuss that later in this post.

Scrap Metal Buyers Should Always Carry a Magnet

Non-ferrous metals (and there quite a few to discuss here) tend not to contain any, or only small traces, of iron, and thus are certainly not magnetic. If you are into scrap steel recycling or are thinking or starting a scrap metal business, one of your very best friends should be a magnet. I recommend using one that is on a string, and one that has VERY strong magnetic cost, because that is what you'll see all the people at the scrap yards making use of. A weak magnet can sometimes fool you, because you are strong, as well as the magnet is weak, you can touch it quickly and pull it away quickly, and think that you have a piece of non-ferrous metal when actually the metal you just found is actually ferrous metal. That is also the main reason that I recommend that your magnet should dangle from a chain, simply waving the magnet in front of a ferrous piece of metal will cause the magnet to "sway" or be "influenced" by the ferrous metal in some way.

Non-Ferrous Metals

As opposed to its ferrous counter parts, non-ferrous metals, as mentioned earlier, do not rust. However , some non-ferrous metals do oxidize. Oxidation could be the process where there is a layer formed on the outside of a piece of metal. Light weight aluminum is one metal in particular that tends to oxidize rather than rust. Interestingly enough, it is roughly the same process; however , with the lack of iron contained in the steel, the oxidation looks white plus flaky as opposed to reddish and porous looking.

Here is a list of non-ferrous steel that are the most commonly found:

Water piping
Aluminum
Stainless Steel
Brass
Lead
Platinum eagle
Where do You Find Copper?

As a rule, you'll usually find copper in plumbing and refrigeration type applications, like air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers. Even in like the small window type air conditioning units there is a fair amount of copper tubes there as well.

In approximately 2009, when the economy was really in a poor way, there was a rash of thefts, particularly large commercial air conditioning units. I was told one doctor's office had their air conditioning units stolen twice. Just as soon as the new units had been installed and replaced after being stolen the first time, they were stolen again! It became such a big problem that scrap yards were required legally to stop taking aluminum/copper radiators (ACR's) all together without written proof of exactly where they came from, and how you came simply by them, if you were trying to bring them in as scrap metal.

Finding Aluminum...

When it comes to aluminum, some of the very first things people think about is aluminum cans, siding from homes, and door and window trim. Back in the 1960's plus 70's aluminum it was popular to utilize for replacements windows, until the home window manufactures starting using vinyl. These days there are people who still have aluminum windows and doors being replaced, so be on the lookout with regard to opportunities to take advantage of when it comes to getting that will sort of scrap aluminum.

There are many other applications where aluminum is used, but one of the greatest resources I can advise a person to find it is motors. There are many parts under the hood of a car which are made from aluminum. Most radiators and air conditioning condensers are made of aluminum. The particular casings for the alternator are made of light weight aluminum, and many intake manifolds are made of aluminium, as well as anchoring hardware attached to the engine.

Another rich source for finding aluminum is lawn mower engines. Not all the parts on an electric motor are made from aluminum, therefore , that kind of a mix of both ferrous metals and aluminum in scrap metal terms is called "irony aluminum. "

Most recently, there are some car manufactures that are also using aluminum to make cars parts like hoods, doors, and vehicle tailgates from. When you bring in an automobile for scrap metal recycling, it might be a good practice to put a magnets to those various parts and see if stays or not, because there is no sense within getting paid ferrous scrap metal prices for non-ferrous scrap alloys.

What Are Good Sources to Find Stainless-steel?

The best resource that I have ever found for finding stainless steel is restaurants and the food industry. Health requirements require that restaurants use stainless steel because of how it cleans up so well, and it is usually the germ-free environment. The health care industry is another source where you'll find stainless steel in high demand.

In the early part of 2012, I had the fortune of being selected to haul off scrap metallic for about 90 Burger King locations across North Carolina, they were installing a new consume fountains. We were hired to carry off the old soda fountain machines. In those machines and other various scrap metal items we delivered off were loads of copper and brass, and massive amounts of stainless steel!

You must exercise some caution, nevertheless , when you're dealing with stainless steel. Sometimes the particular metal looks exactly like stainless steel, but there is not enough nickel content inside it to make it stainless steel, so a magnets will stick to it. That is one biggest reasons for making sure that if you are going to be buying scrap metal, or trying to sell it to a scrap yard, you MUST have the magnet, or you'll pay excessive for it, or make yourself look silly, not knowing your metal product.

Metal Resources...

When it comes to finding brass, the most typical application is going to be plumbing fixtures; such things as faucets, drains, and some plumbing plumbing. Valves and pumps are other good sources for finding brass. Referring back to the Burger King jobs we did, there were a lot of brass fixtures, valves and pumps that we brought in to the scrap yard.

How Do You Discover Lead?

The number one source that I know of for finding lead is batteries.

Vehicle batteries
Golf cart batteries
Regress to something easier computer batteries
Batteries from fork lifts
Large diesel truck electric batteries
I think you get the picture. The particular batteries contain large quantities associated with lead.

You must be cautious when working with electric batteries because there is "battery acid" in most electric batteries. Many scrap yards are cautious about accepting batteries. For example , where We bring my scrap cars, the battery must be removed before you can take the car in; no exceptions!

I Thought Platinum Was Used for Jewelry?

Whilst that is true, platinum is used to get jewelry, it is not exclusive to becoming utilized for jewelry. The most common place to find platinum eagle is actually in catalytic converters.

Once more, the law makers had to step up and set into place laws governing who are able to recycle or scrap catalytic converters. For a while there were car dealerships which were getting catalytic converters cut off their automobiles, dozens at a time, right on the dealership car lot!

The law observance agencies and law makers had to move quickly before more vehicle lots were hit. Now there are usually laws is place prohibiting scrap yards from buying catalytic converters unless the person bringing them in has documented proof of how the catalytic converter was obtained. Sometimes however, documented proof is not even adequate. In this case, the law makers were quite proactive to try to protect business owners from would-be criminals because catalytic converters are very expensive to replace. Furthermore, they will bring a pretty penny at the scrap yard, if you have the right documentation that is.

So there you have it, a full report on scrap metal as well as the differences between ferrous and non-ferrous metals; how to tell them apart and even some sources to find the most valuable ones.

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