Why are metals smelted into the ingot shape? Would it not be better to just make then into cubes, so they would stack better?
In: Engineering
As others have pointed out ingots are not always used anymore, continuous forging and coil/wire extrusion is pretty common ways to ship raw metal. However, I use to work for a scrape metal recycling company that produced tons and tons of small steel or aluminum ingots from the scrap that was shredded then melted down. they were slightly smaller than a common red house brick.
They were still pretty ‘dirty’ and needed further refining and mixed before use. We would sell and ship them by the railcar or ship load usually, often orders of several 100k tons. The size allows them be packed tightly and loaded with a frontend loader or crane with magnet or grapple.
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