Scales and Relations: Analysis of REPM Use with Emphasis on the Years from 2000 to 2010
The determination of actual REPM use followed a twofold approach: first, a primary data analysis was initiated by measuring magnets in HDDs, mobile phones and earphones and second, a literature analysis has been done based on company annual reports, consu
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Scales and Relations: Analysis of REPM Use with Emphasis on the Years from 2000 to 2010
6.1 Methodology The determination of actual REPM use followed a twofold approach: first, a primary data analysis was initiated by measuring magnets in HDDs, mobile phones and earphones and second, a literature analysis has been done based on company annual reports, consultant and market research institutes to get annual production numbers. Then the primary data sets for HDDs and mobile phones have been offset with the annual production data to get verifiable quantitative data. For the wind turbine and electro-mobility field all data had to be assembled via literature research, company annual reports, consultant and market research reports. Details of the methods and data used are discussed in the respective chapters. The primary data analysis has been started to determine the actual weight and composition of both magnets in computer hard drive disks (HDD) and mobile phones. First, old HDDs have been gathered from a collection station in Augsburg which pre-sorts recyclable materials, mainly electronic scrap. In order to get a better sample an email request for old, defect and unused HDDs, mobile phones and headphones has been started within Augsburg University in October 2011. As other communal and official mobile phone collections were planned in near future, the request had to be modest in order not to interfere with these other projects. In return about 200 HDDs, 70 mobile phones and 20 earphones have been collected. Out of these 150 HDDs, 50 mobile phones and all earphones have been disassembled; the magnets have been weighed on a Kern 572 electronic scale with accuracies down to 0.01 g. To avoid any interference of the magnets with the scales a distance cup and a cork cube have been used as a separator. The measurements have been rounded to the tenth of a gram (1 decimal) and this accuracy has been accepted because most of the magnets still had the expected coatings which sometimes remained intact during disassembly but also partially peeled off. It shall also be mentioned that during disassembly caution has to be exercised as during handling the material can produce sparks, the magnet dust can ignite, the magnets can easily break and produce sharp pieces and finally the
V. Zepf, Rare Earth Elements, Springer Theses, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-35458-8_6, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
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6 Scales and Relations: Analysis of REPM
coating is extremely sharp and should only be touched with protective gloves and glasses. The magnets showed the expected brittleness; some magnets crumbled during the attempt to loosen them from the metal plating. One more problem that arose was the magnetism which made it difficult to attach the tools at the right position. The usually strong magnetic forces literally pulled the tools firmly to the magnets so that considerable force had to be used to remove the magnets. After the disassembly and weighing of the magnets they were stored together with their metal casings as some of the
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