Smartphone Manufacturing is not an easy or simple task to go with it is a systematic channelized process from the renowned smartphone maker brand. Samsung collects and sources all the scrap metals eg aluminium from various sources including old phones, spare parts and recycle materials collected from various sources to reprocess them and recycle to get them again in active work. from mare a scrap and help environment with its innovative reuse recycle policies to maintain natural balance and eco system with the effective reuse policy on electronic wastes. Cleaned aluminium scrap is transported to smelter where its loaded into furnace typically an electric arc or furnace to melt the metal for reproduction further.
Afterwards the direct chill casting method is used to create cylindrical aluminium billets and logs continuously to get them in a universal reusable shape to further transform the metals with usable shapes in later stages. Now it comes to a part where in the extrude section where the aluminium gets cut in specific required lengths and diameters to pass further for production. Now Heated aluminum ingot or flat slabs are fed between pair of larger counter rotating rolls to form a uniform thick sheet from the fed metals to mill.
Here with the thick metal sheets autonomous programs run several stamping and punching procedures to get accurate and desired phone components from the metal sheets. Further more if the metal sheets are need to be further furnished more with specific details they are further pushed to specific grinding and milling sections to get the part ready.
All of these machines are systematically programed and are operated by computers to consume less and produce more with precision as well as optimum productivity. Which helps brand to lower their manufacturing losses and further cost cutting on end products. Primary purpose of using aluminum in the smartphone manufacturing process is to utilize its natural properties of conducting heat which is crucial for dispersing heat generated by the smartphone processor installed along with other components on the phone. In the volume side keys , drivers , rollers , rockers , sim card trays minimum of 28% of overall their quantity is derived from recycled aluminum metal which is reproduced by the brand from recycle process we saw earlier part of this episode. Through Not only Metals but a smartphone does needs plastic parts too and to cater that part Samsung sources discarded fishing nets, water barrels , pet bottles , recycle plastic materials and wastes.
It all begins with sorting the plastics according to their grades and usages further more plastic is transported to appropriate processing plant and is heated until its molten to transform its shape to a die continuous sheet for further use. Samsung plastic repurposing has scaled upto prevent more then 15 tonnes of discarded fishing nets from entering worlds oceans till end of 2023. Waste plastic is crushed and fed into an extruder, which compresses and heats the material existing as a filament that is cut into pellets. These reproduced pellets serve as low cost ecological alternatives to pellets procured from virgin resins.
Recycled plastics from discarded fishing nets have been used since the production of the Samsung galaxy s22 series of smartphones and further. Samsung emphasizes sustainability throughout its product lifecycle including the end of life stage. Plastic materials are shredded during the recycle process from the waste products such as water barrels to reproduce reusable plastic from them. Further with the process now the processing unit gets clear HDPE pellets which are suitable for clean plastic application uses such as display screen layers of the smartphone. During the manufacturing process of the galaxy s23 ultra there is upto 22% recycled content based products are used for the front and back glass. For the phone main board chassis case cnc machines are used to obtain perfect smooth cornering shapes and finish.
Further metal polishing and abrasive compounds are using along with buffing process to eliminate any minor machine work marks on the products. Anodizing is an electrolytic surface treatment for aluminum components that creates a hard and durable oxide finish on the product parts. All of these components are submerged in an electrolyte solution typically sulfuric acid and electrical current is applied to form the aluminum oxide layer. This process also makes the surface of the components easy to dye and paint due to the porous nature of the oxide layer.