FERROUS & NON FERROUS METALS
FERROUS METALS
Ferrous metals are one of the most recycled materials in the world and can come from various products such as cars, home appliances, construction materials and industrial machinery. They are generally vulnerable to rust when exposed to the elements, although this isn't the case with wrought iron or stainless. Most ferrous metals also have magnetic properties which make them very useful in the manufacturing of motor & electrical appliances. The steel making industry is now hugely dependent on the recycling of scrap metal and almost 40% of the world’s steel production is made from scrap. One of the reasons for this is it’s a lot cheaper to use recycled steel than to go through the mining process and form new steel. In addition, recycling steel uses around 75% less energy compared to creating steel from raw materials – enough to power about 18million homes.
NON FERROUS METALS
Non ferrous means that it does not have a significant amount of iron in its chemical composition. Note the word “significant”; nearly all metal alloys have some trace, or non-significant, amount of iron in their composition. This does not make them ferrous alloys though. Non-ferrous alloys generally have iron compositions of less than one percent as measured by weight. If iron constitutes a large percentage of a metal, such as if it is the first or second most abundant element in the metal’s chemical composition, then the metal is considered ferrous.