Separation and Recycling Non-magnetic Metals from the Shredded Automobiles Scrap with Magnetic Fluids

It is important to separate the nonmagnetic metals from shredded automobiles scraps efficiently. The research relates in general to the separation of non-magnetic metals automatically on the basis of the different density of the magnetic fluids in a magnetic field. A water-based magnetic fluid was prepared with a chemical coprecipitation method by using ultrasonic in dispersing process. The magnetic field system was design and simulated by a finite element analysis software package, ANSYS 8.1. Separation tests were performed on the mixtures of aluminum, zinc, copper and lead with various scrap size and shape using the water-based magnetic fluids.