dross

American Heritage Dictionary:

dross

(drŏs, drôs) pronunciation

Waste or impure matter: discarded the dross after recycling the wood pulp.
The scum that forms on the surface of molten metal as a result of oxidation.
Worthless, commonplace, or trivial matter: "He was wide-awake and his mind worked clearly, purged of all dross" (Vladimir Nabokov).

[Middle English dros, from Old English drōs, dregs.]

drossy dross'y adj.

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IN BRIEF: Scum that forms on molten metal.

This discipline and rough treatment are a furnace to extract the silver from the dross. This testing purifies the gold by boiling the scum away. — Mevlana Rumi (1207-1273), Persian sufi mystic from Rumi Daylight: A Daybook of Spiritual Guidance.

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For the Austrian municipality, see Droß.

Aluminium dross

Dross is a mass of solid impurities floating on a molten metal. It appears usually on the melting of low-melting-point metals or alloys such as tin, lead, zinc or aluminium, or by oxidation of the metal(s). It can also consist of impurities such as paint leftovers. It can easily be skimmed off the surface before pouring the metal into a mold or casting flask.

With tin and lead the dross can also be removed by adding sodium hydroxide pellets, which dissolve the oxides and form a slag.

Dross, as a solid, is distinguished from slag, which is a liquid. Dross product is not entirely waste material; aluminium dross, for example, can be recycled and is used in secondary steelmaking for slag deoxidation.^[1]

Contents

1 Etymology and usage
2 See also
3 References
- 3.1 Notes
4 External links

Etymology and usage

The term dross derives from the Old English word dros, meaning the scum produced when smelting metals. By the 15th Century it had come to refer to rubbish in general.^[2] Dregs^[2] and the geological term druse are also thought to be etymologically related.^[3] Metallurgical dross is referenced as a metaphor for worthless material in the Bible and in other religious texts.^{[note 1]}

References

^ Kogel, Jessica Elzea; Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (2006), Industrial minerals & rocks: commodities, markets, and uses (7th ed.), SME, p. 1406, ISBN 9780873352338, http://books.google.com/books?id=zNicdkuulE4C&pg=PA1406.
^ ^a ^b "Dross". www.etymologyonline.com. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dross.
^ Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. W & R Chambers. 1875. pp. 142. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kf8n2v9ZjxIC.
^ "Ezekiel 22:18". The Bible (King James version). http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms%20119:119;Ezekiel%2022:18,19&version=KJV.
^ "Proverbs 25:4". The Bible (King James version). http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2025:4;26:23&version=KJV.
^ "Alma 32:3". The Book of Mormon. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/32/3.

Notes

^ In the Book of Ezekiel 22 v 18 : "Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.",^[4] in the Book of Proverbs,^[5] and in the Book of Mormon (Alma 32:3 ) "Therefore they were poor; yea, they were esteemed by their brethren as dross..".^[6]

External links

Look up dross in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

AZoM.com – Aluminium Dross Recycling
Herbert F. Lund. The McGraw-Hill recycling handbook. Chapter 37.23: United Kingdom: European Union Directive Percipitates Aluminum "Dross" Recycling.
Residues from aluminium dross recycling in cement
DrosRite Aluminum Recycling Process

Metalworking

Casting

Processes	Centrifugal Continuous Die Evaporative-pattern (Lost foam and Full mold) Investment (Lost wax) Permanent mold Plaster mold casting Sand Semi-solid metal Shaw process Shell molding Spin

Components	Chill Cope and drag Core Flask Molding sand Pattern Riser Sprue

Terminology	Casting defects Draft Dross Ingot Semi-finished casting products Slag

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Translations:

Dross

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - affald, skum, slagger

Nederlands (Dutch)
rommel, metaalschuim

Français (French)
n. - (Métal) scories, crasse, impuretés, déchets, rebut

Deutsch (German)
n. - Abfall, Dreck, (tech.) Gekrätz, Abschaum

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - έλκυσμα (αφρός ή σκωρία λιωμένου μετάλλου), ακαθαρσίες, απορρίμματα

Italiano (Italian)
rifiuti

Português (Portuguese)
n. - escória (f), resíduo (m)

Русский (Russian)
окалина, шлак

Español (Spanish)
n. - escoria, basura

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - orenlig, slagg

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
浮渣, 渣滓, 碎屑

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 浮渣, 渣滓, 碎屑

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 앙금, 불순물, 쓸모 없는 물건

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 浮きかす, くず, かす

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) رغوة المعادن المنصهرة, نفايه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סיג, פסולת‬

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		American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
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Etymology and usage

See also

References

Notes

External links

Dross