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What are different metals used for?

  Monday, 5 October 2015

If you’re new to the world of metal recycling, the amount of different metals and their uses might be a bit surprising: it’s very easy to forget just how much goes into our day-to-day lives behind the scenes!

We thought it would be interesting to take a look at the uses of different metals in the day-to-day. As well as being informative, it will also give you some idea as to which metals you have in your possession that could be worth trading in!

Aluminium

Aluminium has a ton of great recycling potential, and will often be recycled to become exactly the same thing it was when originally manufactured! It’s flexible, strong and light-weight. Some of the main uses for aluminium include:

• Building and construction, where it’s used for window frames, building structures and roofs, among other things.
• Transportation, where it’s used to help construct aeroplanes, trains, boats and cars, as well as smaller vehicles such as bicycles and motorbikes.
• Packaging, where it’s used as the main material for cans and foil.
• Electricity, where it’s used as the main material in the high-voltage lines.

Copper

As the best electrical conductor except for silver, copper is very valuable: indeed, it’s the most frequently sold valuable material in the industry. Common uses of copper include:

• Electrical applications, where it’s frequently used for wires, circuits, switches and electromagnets.
• Piping and plumbing: refrigeration, air conditioning and water supply systems.
• Roofing and insulation.
• Household items such as cookware, doorknobs and cutlery.

Lead

Typically, the majority of recycled lead comes from batteries, but there are still a number of different uses for this metal:

• Car batteries, where it’s still used extensively in the electrode plates.
• Radiation protection, where it’s used to offer protection against x-rays.

Zinc

As well as being present in the day-to-day in the form of coins, zinc is also used for other purposes, such as:

• Galvanisation, where it’s commonly used as a coating to help protect iron and steel from corroding (galvanisation is simply the name for the process).
• Batteries, where zinc is used as an anode component material.
• Brass, which is created by alloying zinc and copper.

Tin

Tin is one of the most expensive non-ferrous metals, which means that recycling it is very important! The uses of tin are quite varied, and include:

• Cans, which made use of a thin layer of tin covering a steel sheet – resulting in tinplate, the raw material used to create cans.
• Cars, where tin is used to add resistance to the motor block, piston rings and clutch plates.
• Springs, which are increased in toughness through the addition of tin.
• Glass, with tin oxide coatings added to the glass surfaces to help make them more resistant.

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