Aircraft recycling is the process of scrapping and disassembling retired aircraft, and re-purposing their parts as spare parts or scrap. Airplanes are made of around 800 to 1000 parts that can be recycled, with the majority of them made from metal alloys and composite materials.[1][2] The two most common metal alloys are aluminum and titanium and the main composite material is carbon fiber.[2]
Airplanes are disassembled at aircraft-recycling centers where non-metal components with no recycle value are discarded, major components are dismantled and metal alloy components are sorted based on their composition.[3][4] The metal alloys are then remelted together to form a single homogenous alloy from scraps. It is estimated that roughly 400-450 airplanes are disassembled and recycled annually which drives the $2 billion aircraft parts market.[1]
The main challenge in aircraft recycling is ensuring that the amount of metal impurities within recycled aircraft material is low so that they can be reused in other airplanes. Some major limitations in aircraft recycling include cost, impurities in alloys, hazardous materials, and the quality of recycled components.[5][6][7][8] Parts that cannot be directly recycled can be reused or upcycled into artwork, clothing, and furniture.[1]
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