Transforming aerospace waste into high-quality alloys
A Metal Recycling Machine is a high invest
- Customer: Metalloy
- Commissioning date: July 2021
- Contract Value: 450,000 Euros
About Metalloy: Founded in 1974 in North Hamburg, Metalloy has been a trusted specialist in special alloyed steels for nearly five decades. This small, dedicated company has made a name for itself as an expert in reprocessing high-performance alloys (HPAs) and handling swarf and turnings primarily sourced from the aerospace industry. Among its prestigious clients, Airbus stands out as one of Metalloy's largest customers.
The challenge: The aerospace sector generates significant amounts of swarf and turnings composed of special alloys like nickel, cobalt, and titanium. Metalloy's vital role involves cleaning and compacting this swarf to facilitate recycling and remelting into high-quality alloys. Upon arrival, the swarf resembles long curls, but a unique challenge is that each curl is tightly interwoven with another, making handling difficult. Thus, the initial step involves crushing the tangled swarf into small, manageable pieces roughly the size of fingernails.
The solution: Enter the small yet powerful ZB Lindemann shredder – a machine designed to efficiently crush swarf and turnings into smaller, more manageable sizes. The resulting material is then fed into a press, which compresses it into briquettes. This transformation turns a swarf into a flowable material, simplifying storage and transportation. Metalloy had been using a Lindemann crusher for nearly three decades before deciding it was time for an upgrade.
Lindemann not only supplied the new machine but also dismantled and removed the old crusher, showcasing their commitment to seamless transitions. The latest addition to Metalloy's arsenal is the Lindemann ZB 90 73 turning crusher, boasting a 730mm feed opening and equipped with a set of 900mm diameter rotating, extremely wear-resistant, freely suspended hammers that spin at 1,000 rpm. Powered by a 90kW electric motor, this machine is positioned inside the factory and includes an ejection door for safely removing oversized items during operation.
The ZB 73 turning crusher is uniquely suited for processing long, curly, bushy, and voluminous swarf from various materials, including steel, aluminium, brass, and special alloys. Its standout feature is its high throughput performance, unaffected by oversized parts, ensuring efficiency.
The nature of the special alloys, though small in size, is exceptionally hard, leading to significant wear and tear on the Lindemann machine. To address this, Lindemann has developed specialized liners, wear plates, and a unique rotor, collectively extending the machine's service life. Metalloy's invaluable experience with the old machine played a pivotal role in shaping the design of the new one, with customized special weldments incorporated to enhance wear resistance.
The ZB 90 73 is one of the smaller machines in the Lindemann ZB family, yet it delivers an impressive throughput ranging from 3.5 to 10 tons per hour. Since its commissioning, Metalloy has been pleased with the machine's performance.
