First of all, it must be noted that the concept of initial smelting is a marketing idea that had be used for decades in the electronics industry. No semi-finished product really originates from the first smelting. The metallurgical process is far more complex. The concentrate of the ores, i.e. primary material, is used directly in local smelters, for example in Asian countries. The initial smelting of the ore concentrates yields a very impure alloy, as the oredoes not consit of one element, but also of numerous secondary elements, which must first be refined in the following metallurgical process. This is usually done by pyrometallurgical processes directly in the smelters on site. After this cleaning processes, the material is remelted several times, so it is by no means an “initial smelt”. With secondary materials it is similar. The process residues are used in appropriate boilers depending on the alloy. Based on the initial analysis, further metallurgical processing is performed, similar to that for ores. Depending on customer specifications, impurities are cleaned down to the ppm range. As a result, some of the tin alloys can have a very high degree of purity.
Do you have questions regarding this matter?
Your contact person: Tobias Patzig
Company: Feinhütte Halsbrücke GmbH
