Melting Ali
- Thread starter Tengu
- Start date
as thin foil it will pretty much oxidize and turn to dust/slag bout the best way is to plunge it into a big vat of molten Aluminium of the same grade so it reduces the oxygen contact as it melts
if the scrap guys wont touch it any more its probably worthless
if the scrap guys wont touch it any more its probably worthless
Molten metal is a very hazardous thing, especially in quantity. The required PPE is extensive, and not totally effective.
http://www.eaa.net/en/about-aluminium/recycling/
http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/recycling-metals/aluminium_production.php
To cut a long story short: the energy cost of extracting aluminium metal from its ore is at least twenty times that of getting the aluminium from scrap, so it's a Good Thing For The Planet (TM) to recycle aluminium.
Having said, that most scrap merchants don't want foil. They seem to prefer drinks cans etc. I'd suggest simply storing it until there's enough to make it worth while taking it to some place that wants it, but you'd probably need 50 to 100 kilos of the stuff to make it worth while. That's barely fifty quid at today's prices.
As Matt.S has said, molten metal can be dangerous. Having said that, molten aluminium is a lot less hot than, say, molten iron and if you're careful it should be possible to melt it safely. But I'd have to ask if it's really necessary? The energy used in melting it will be completely wasted because it will just have to be be melted again when it's recycled. So they don't take up a lot of room in storage I crush my scrap cans with a 14lb sledgehammer on a big anvil. It's good exercise, but there are other ways to do it.
Foil is easier to flatten and store reasonably efficiently.
melting Alu in your garden is fairly simple i used to do it to cast my own bits using old lumps of engines etc its just not worth it for foil due to the massive loss with the very large surface area to weight etc
Going back to my school days we did a lot of lost wax processing with aluminium, from what I can remember we used a crucible on top of the forge and then used the tongs to pour it into our moulds. I don't expect they do it the same in schools now though 
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