TY - JOUR

T1 - Recycling aluminum alloys for the automotive industry

T2 - Breaking the source-sink paradigm

AU - Krall, Patrick

AU - Weißensteiner, Irmgard

AU - Pogatscher, Stefan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)

PY - 2023/12/18

Y1 - 2023/12/18

N2 - Aluminum is a major construction material in light-weight vehicles. Today, recycling the aluminum content of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is based on dilution with primary metal and downcycling to cast engine blocks. The importance of the latter, however, is expected to lessen due to vehicle electrification. In this study we posit that by altering the common classification of aluminum alloys, it may become possible to deploy ELV scrap as a direct source for upcycling into new wrought alloys. We demonstrate this by examining possible compositions of an average EU car, a pickup truck and an electric car, and the corresponding dismantling scenarios. Our results suggest that alloys with promising properties such as good rollability, yield strengths and elongations comparable to common automotive sheet alloys can be produced directly from ELV scrap to accommodate both the increasing importance of wrought alloys and the passing of cast engine blocks as sink.

AB - Aluminum is a major construction material in light-weight vehicles. Today, recycling the aluminum content of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is based on dilution with primary metal and downcycling to cast engine blocks. The importance of the latter, however, is expected to lessen due to vehicle electrification. In this study we posit that by altering the common classification of aluminum alloys, it may become possible to deploy ELV scrap as a direct source for upcycling into new wrought alloys. We demonstrate this by examining possible compositions of an average EU car, a pickup truck and an electric car, and the corresponding dismantling scenarios. Our results suggest that alloys with promising properties such as good rollability, yield strengths and elongations comparable to common automotive sheet alloys can be produced directly from ELV scrap to accommodate both the increasing importance of wrought alloys and the passing of cast engine blocks as sink.

KW - Automotive aluminum alloys

KW - End-of-live vehicles

KW - Recycling

KW - Secondary wrought alloys

UR - https://pureadmin.unileoben.ac.at/portal/en/publications/recycling-aluminum-alloys-for-the-automotive-industry(1a5c9f78-72df-4f45-8e4b-70de74906272).html

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85182834414&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107370

DO - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107370

M3 - Article

VL - 202.2024

JO - Resources, Conservation and Recycling

JF - Resources, Conservation and Recycling

SN - 0921-3449

IS - January

M1 - 107370

ER -