METHOD OF SEGREGATING METALLIC COMPONENTS AND REMOVING FINES THEREFROM

In a process of fragmenting and segregating shredded metallic components fabricated from different aluminum alloys in which a fragmented component is provided, a method of removing fines for purposes of enhancing segregation of the alloys, the method comprising the steps of providing a feedstock comprised of said metallic components, said alloys having different incipient melting temperatures, the feedstock is shredded and thereafter screened to remove fines therefrom having at least sizes in a size range of the fragment component. The feedstock is heated to effect incipient melting of the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature and agitated sufficiently to cause the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature to fragment. The fragmented components are segregated from the unfragmented feedstock.