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Lecture 5:

Metallic Materials I:
Basic Concepts, Mineral Processing, &
Metal Extraction

MATERIALS ENGINEERING 10:


ENGINEERING MATERIALS

OBJECTIVES
Describe important properties of metals
Explain the process used for extracting

metals from ores

THE BASIC MATERIAL


CLASSIFICATIONS

ELECTRONIC
MATERIALS

COMPOSITES

METALS

METALS

Good thermal
and electrical
conductors

Strong yet
deformable

METALS

Do not easily
break

Malleable
Ductile

Not
transparent
Lustrous

High-density

Ductility of Metals
Deformation under tensile stress

cup and cone failure

Malleability of Metals
Deformation under compressive stress

A gold nugget of 5 mm in
diameter can be expanded
through hammering into a gold
foil of about 0.5 square meter.

Toughness

Electrical Conductivity of
Metals

Thermal Conductivity of
Metals

So where do metals
come from?

Short answer: from the EARTH.


Long answer: by mining raw ore
from the earth and converting
this to raw metal, which is then
processed to refined metal.

Metal Sources

NATURAL

RECYCLED

VALUABLE
MINERAL

GANGUE

Valuable minerals mixture


of minerals , one or more of
which can be economically
exploited to become a source
or supply of a particular metal
Gangue minerals of no
economic value

COPPER

IRON

HEMATITE
(Fe2O3)

LIMONITE
(Fe2O3H2
O)

ALUMINUM

BAUXITE
(Al2O3H2
O)

MAGNETITE
(Fe3O4)

LEAD

GALENA
(PbS)

CHALCOPYRITE
(CuFeS2)

BORNITE
(FeS2CU2S
CuS)

SILVER

ARGENTITE
(Ag2S)

Thinking Part

Think of some advantages of using


recycled metal over raw ore in metal
production.
For all these advantages, why do
you think recycled metal is
secondary to raw ore?

Thinking Part
Advantages:

involves fewer and simpler processing


operations
requires less total energy during recovery
produces less pollution during the process
Disadvantage: difficulty in collection as well

as sorting of scrap

Metal

Energy
Energy
Expended
Expended Net Energy
on
on Recovery Savings on
Production
from Scrap Recycling
from Ore
(secondary)
(primary)

Magnesium

372

10

362

Aluminum

253

13

340

Nickel

150

16

134

Copper

116

19

97

Zinc

68

19

49

Steel

33

14

19

Lead

28

10

18

Of course, we cannot use this ore in


its raw form.
They have to undergo the process
of MINERAL PROCESSING.

MINERAL PROCESSING
liberation of valuable minerals from the ores by crushing and
grinding, and their separation by physical methods

COMMINUTION

SIZING

CONCENTRATION

DEWATERING

1. Comminution
Crushing of ore to smaller sizes necessary for mechanical

separation and metallurgical treatment


Why?
to increase the surface area available for chemical reaction

Crushing blocks to coarse (Jaw Crushers)


Grinding coarse to fine (Roll Crushers)

CRUSHING

GRINDING

2. Sizing
Separation of fractions into component sizes

SCREENING/SIEVING CLASSIFICATION

usually done in between comminution


steps to ensure particle size

Separation of materials which


depends on the settling velocity of
particles in a fluid (1mm to 50
microns)

3. Concentration
Separation and collection of valuable minerals

in bulk.

GRAVITY SEPARATOR

FLOTATION

MAGNETIC
ELECTROSTATIC

3. Concentration
Gravity Concentration
Collection of valuable minerals wherein specific gravity and

in some cases, sizes are the basis for effecting concentration


(concentrate, fine particles, gangue tailings)
Electrostatic Concentration
Separation carried out by utilizing forces acting on charged
or polarized particles in an electric field
Flotation
Separation is accomplished as the mineral-laden bubbles
rise to the surface and leave behind minerals or ore particles
which have not responded to the treatment
Magnetic Separation
Magnetic materials are separated from the gangue due to
the action of the applied magnetic field on the drum

4. Dewatering
Removal of water from solids
Objectives:
Decrease pulp weight to reduce handling and shipping
cost
Adjust the characteristics of the process streams so that
they are suitable for subsequent treatments
Necessary to be able to recover and recycle water within
the plant and prevent contamination of freshwater
resources

4. Dewatering
THICKENING

FILTERING
Thickening
Allows a dilute suspension of fine
solids in a liquid to settle in a
tank, until a clear liquid layer is at
the top of thicker mud layer

Filtering
Done by removing solid particles
from the liquid by passing the
fluid through a filtering medium
on which the solids build up

Once we have our ore refined to the


highest possible purity, we will now
extract the metal from the ore.
Most of the time, ore = chemical
compound.
Therefore, we NEED a CHEMICAL
process to extract our metal!

METAL EXTRACTION
chemical processing of a concentrate

PYROMETALLURGY

ELECTROMETALLURGY

HYDROMETALLURGY

Pyrometallurgy
High-temperature, non-aqueous reactions

Uses thermodynamic data to predict whether


a reaction proceeds
Same data is used to predict effect of

changing temperature

Pyrometallurgy
separation

melting

smelting

reducing a metallic ore to a crude


metal

Slag

Matte

less dense
(nonvaluable
constituent)

solutions of various
sulfides (usually of
copper, iron and
nickel)

Hydrometallurgy
Production of metallic materials/ compounds

from ores/scrap at a specific temperature


range: (T < 300C, P< 300 psi)
Desired metals are dissolved into aqueous
medium (leachant), purified then recovered.
Leaching

Solution
Purification
and
Concentration

Metal
Recovery/
Winning

1. Leaching

Use of an aqueous solvent/ lixiviant in ore

dissolution
a. Concentration Leaching desired metal is

dissolved (e.g. dissolution of gold)


4Au + 8KCN + O2 + 2H2O 4KAu(CN)2 + 4KOH
b. Separation Leaching undesirable mineral

constituent is removed or dissolved; residue is


the valuable product (e.g. leaching of ilmenite)
FeTiO3 + 2HCl TiO2 + FeCl2(aq) + H2O

2. Solution Purification and


Concentration
removal of undesirable constituents in the
leach liquor (pregnant solution) and preconcentration of the metal in the solution

Methods:
Ion Exchange uses synthetic polymer resins
designed to exchange ions for ions in solution
2. Solvent Extraction a distributive process
wherein the valuable metal is allowed to
partition itself between two immiscible phases
1.

3. Metal Winning
Final recovery of metal

Precipitation the formation from the


solution of a solid product as the result of
dilution or addition of a reagent to the
solution
ii. Electrolytic Deposition uses electrons for
the reduction of metal ions
i.

Electrometallurgy
Utilizes electrons for reduction of metal ions
Uses reactivity series for:
Metal recovery from solution

ELECTROWINNING
Metal purification ELECTROREFINING
Application of metallic coating ELECTROPLATING

Electrowinning
electrolytic process in which cathodic

reduction is used to recover the sought metal


from the electrolyte derived from a leaching
process.

Electrorefining
involves dissolution of the impure metal

(anode) producing metal ions in solution.


Metal ions in solution are conducted through
an electrolyte and recombine with electrons
in the cathode to produce a purified metal.

Electroplating
process that uses

electric current to
reduce dissolved
metal cations so
that they form a
coherent metal
coating on an
electrode.

Thank you for listening!

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