Reducing waste production is key to achieving a circular economy. The European metal industry consumes over 1.2 billion TJ of energy every year. This number could be reduced by reusing material that is currently being wasted.

The current problem is that the recycling industry focuses on creating clean secondary raw materials from waste. This means that large quantities of material are rejected because they are too contaminated to meet these high standards, or because it is not economically viable to recycle them. This thesis focuses on the value of metal waste materials and their potential in architectural applications. By lowering recycling standards and taking a multidisciplinary approach, an integrated process can be developed that can handle a wider range of materials.

Using a powder metallurgical approach, aluminium composite foils are researched for their potential in architectural applications. The material is granulated, compressed and heated to study its behaviour. The best results were obtained using the highest pressure and a heating temperature of 750°C.

These experiments demonstrate that these materials still have considerable value and quality. The material’s aesthetic quality is particularly high, making it an excellent material for visual applications. The material’s mechanical properties are also interesting for more technical architectural applications.