Four new products are now available on the marketplace

In this post, we will introduce you to the main uses and benefits of these products.

1. Copper granules

It is widely known that copper's high conductivity makes it the ideal material in a wide variety of electrical applications. However, it is less widely known that copper is also used as an alloying element for iron and steel. Minor additions of copper have found to have a positive effect on the mechanical and functional properties of ferrous alloys:

• In ductile iron, the addition of around 1% Cu improves hardness and tensile strength. Tensile strength is the maximum stress steel can withstand while being stretched before breaking
• In grey iron, the addition of 2% Cu significantly improves wear resistance
• In steel alloys, minor additions of Cu (typically below 1%) improve corrosion resistance and increase yield strength

Copper granules are in fact copper scrap. Copper has the ability to be used and recycled while maintaining the same qualities. Copper granules are produced by dismantling and shredding copper wire. Depending on the copper content, different qualities exist such as 1A (99.9% Cu), 1B (99.5% Cu) and 2 (98% of Cu).

2. Ferroboron

Ferroboron is a ferroalloy made up of boron and iron, with boron content varying between 10% and 24%. On average, the steel industry consumes more than 50% of the ferroboron produced annually. Boron alloyed steel possess higher strength and lighter weight compared to the average high strength steel making it a very good material to use for safe and fuel-efficient automobiles. Boron is also alloyed to cast irons to improve wear resistance. 10% of the ferroboron produced annually is used to produce neodymium magnets, which are the most used magnets worldwide given their high strength and low volume.

Compared to other alloying elements the number of companies which have an active REACH registration for Boron is very small. A REACH registration is required to legally important metals into the European Union. Companies which are REACH registered for Boron include CRONIMET Noble Alloys, GfE-MIR, LS Alloys, Meca-Trade, and Traxys Europe

3. Ferrosilicon Magnesium

Ferrosilicon magnesium, or short FeSiMg, is used to produce ductile iron castings. FeSiMg is a “nodulizer”. It is added to molten iron for forming a structure called spherical graphite, also referred to as nodules. This form minimizes the weakening and embrittling effect of graphite on the metal matrix with the result of producing cast iron with better machinability, toughness and tensile properties.

There are many different grades and grain sizes of FeSiMg. Magnesium content varies between 4 and 11%, Silicon content varies between 43 and 45%.

4. Recarburiser

When in the iron and steel production process, the carbon content is lower than the required specification of the final product, carbon units need to be added to the melt.

The most common recarburiser products to adjust the carbon content are:

• Anthracite Coal
• Metallurgical Coal
• Calcined Petroleum Cole (CPC)
• Natural Graphite
• Synthetic Graphite

Steel mills are very cost sensitive and need to buy large volumes of recarburisers. Therefore, they prefer less expensive materials like anthracite coal and metallurgical coke. CPC, Natural Graphite and Synthetic Graphite are more expensive and therefore only used for trim additions.

Iron foundries are more focused on minimizing impurities due to a lack of secondary metallurgy. Therefore, Anthracite Coal and Metallurgical Coke can generally not be used. Synthetic and Natural Graphite are ideal but expensive, therefore CPC is often the best choice for iron foundries.

On Metalshub, every consumer can create its custom specification so that he exactly gets the product he needs.

Do you trade Copper granules, FeB, FeSiMg or Carburisers? Make sure to create the product in "Hub", “My Products” area to get automatic listing notifications!

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