Wednesday, 16 March 2011 19:37

General Profile

Rate this item
(0 votes)

The metal smelting and refining industry processes metal ores and scrap metal to obtain pure metals. The metal working industries process metals in order to manufacture machine components, machinery, instruments and tools which are needed by other industries as well as by the other different sectors of the economy. Various types of metals and alloys are used as starting materials, including rolled stock (bars, strips, light sections, sheets or tubes) and drawn stock (bars, light sections, tubes or wire). Basic metal processing techniques include:

    • smelting and refining of metal ores and scrap
    • casting molten metals into a given shape (foundry)
    • hammering or pressing metals into the shape of a die (hot or cold forging)
    • welding and cutting sheet metal
    • sintering (compressing and heating materials in powder form, including one or more metals)
    • shaping metals on a lathe.

               

              A wide variety of techniques are used to finish metals, including grinding and polishing, abrasive blasting and many surface finishing and coating techniques (electroplating, galvanizing, heat treatment, anodizing, powder coating and so forth).

               

              Back

              Read 2323 times Last modified on Saturday, 30 July 2022 23:53

              " DISCLAIMER: The ILO does not take responsibility for content presented on this web portal that is presented in any language other than English, which is the language used for the initial production and peer-review of original content. Certain statistics have not been updated since the production of the 4th edition of the Encyclopaedia (1998)."

              Contents

              Metal Processing and Metal Working Industry References

              Buonicore, AJ and WT Davis (eds.). 1992. Air Pollution Engineering Manual. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold/Air and Waste Management Association.

              Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 1995. Profile of the Nonferrous Metals Industry. EPA/310-R-95-010. Washington, DC: EPA.

              International Association for Research on Cancer (IARC). 1984. Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. Vol. 34. Lyon: IARC.

              Johnson A, CY Moira, L MacLean, E Atkins, A Dybunico, F Cheng, and D Enarson. 1985. Respiratory abnormalities amongst workers in iron and steel industry. Brit J Ind Med 42:94–100.

              Kronenberg RS, JC Levin, RF Dodson, JGN Garcia, and DE Griffith. 1991. Asbestos-related disease in employees of a steel mill and a glass bottle manufacturing plant. Ann NY Acad Sci 643:397–403.

              Landrigan, PJ, MG Cherniack, FA Lewis, LR Catlett, and RW Hornung. 1986. Silicosis in a grey iron foundry. The persistence of an ancient disease. Scand J Work Environ Health 12:32–39.

              National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). 1996. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposures to Metalworking Fluids. Cincinatti, OH: NIOSH.

              Palheta, D and A Taylor. 1995. Mercury in environmental and biological samples from a gold mining area in the Amazon Region of Brazil. Science of the Total Environment 168:63-69.

              Thomas, PR and D Clarke. 1992 Vibration white finger and Dupuytren’s contracture: Are they related? Occup Med 42(3):155–158.