UTILIZATION OF WASTE MILD STEEL CHIPS FOR ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS
Metal chips have the ability to remain in the environment for a long period of time before biodegrading. It causes irreversible harm to wildlife and renders arable soil unfit for farming activities. This study is aimed at assessing waste metal chips for potential engineering applications in some selected machining workshops in Maiduguri. Interview and observation approaches were adopted as an instrument for the data collection using a prepared interview guide. The majority of the metal chips available are mild steel chips, cast iron chips and aluminum chips whereas brass chips, copper chips and chips from other metals are rarely produced. The aluminum chips, brass chips and copper chips are used in casting operations or are rather converted to billet for other uses base on demand. The cast iron chips and mild steel chips are not recycled despite their quantity (60%) being considerably high. They are mainly disposed at refuse site or sold to scrap buyers. From the findings of this investigation, an average of 4,800 kg of waste metal chips is generated in Maiduguri annually. The findings reveal that metal chip composites good hardness index of 66.9 HRD and tensile strength of 17.266 MPa improvement from standard based. If properly harnessed, these chips have potentials for use in areas such as: production of abrasives (sandpaper), grinding wheels, and automobile brake pads. It is recommended that use of advance metal -metal adhesive be utilized to develop more robust applications of chip as desulfurizer in biogas desulfurizer and as replacement for raw sand in concrete development among others.
Authors : Hammajam, A.A. and Khadija, H.S.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 10(2) Date Uploaded : 5th December 2024