Modern vehicle and air-conditioner radiators built from copper tubes and aluminium fins — a composite grade that is shredded and separated rather than melted whole.
Modern vehicle and air-conditioner radiators built from copper tubes and aluminium fins — a composite grade that is shredded and separated rather than melted whole.
Most radiators and condensers made in the last few decades use aluminium fins with copper tubes, or are all-aluminium. The copper-tube version is the Talk grade: clean radiators with the steel and plastic tanks removed, sold on an assumed split between copper and aluminium. All-aluminium radiators are a separate, cheaper grade.
Because the two metals are mechanically bonded, the radiators are shredded and the copper and aluminium separated by density or sensor sorting before each stream goes to its own smelter.
Processors in India, Malaysia, Thailand and China buy radiators in containers from the US, Europe and the Middle East. The lot is priced on the expected copper content, and buyers check for brass tanks, steel brackets and plastic end-tanks that have not been cut off.
Code: ReMA Talk (aluminium copper radiators)
The main importing countries for this grade — each links to the country page with its mills, smelters, price references and named firms.