Curly swarf and chips from lathes, drills and milling machines — low-density, oily and often alloyed, which makes them a discounted grade that is best briquetted before melting.
Curly swarf and chips from lathes, drills and milling machines — low-density, oily and often alloyed, which makes them a discounted grade that is best briquetted before melting.
Turnings are the ribbons and chips that machine tools cut away when steel is turned, drilled or milled. Automotive component plants, bearing works, forging shops and general engineering workshops produce them continuously. Cast iron borings, which are short, brittle chips from machining castings, are a related but separate grade.
Loose turnings have a very low bulk density, carry cutting oil and coolant, and can be alloyed with chromium, nickel or molybdenum depending on the parent steel. Each of these points lowers the price against solid scrap.
The usual treatment is to crush the long ribbons, spin off the oil in a centrifuge and press the chips into briquettes that can be charged like solid scrap. Briquetting presses from German, Austrian, Indian and Chinese makers are listed on our machinery pages. Alloyed turnings are segregated at source, because a mixed lot that contaminates a low-alloy heat costs the mill far more than the scrap was worth.
Foundries, induction-furnace mills and some EAF plants take turnings in briquette or loose form; the loose material is often blended into heavier charges. Internationally, turnings are shipped in containers rather than bulk because of their oil content and the risk of self-heating.
Code: ReMA machine shop turnings and borings
The main importing countries for this grade — each links to the country page with its mills, smelters, price references and named firms.