Carbide Powder and Soft Scrap

Soft scrap is tungsten-bearing material that has not been sintered into a solid article: ready-to-press and spray-dried powder, off-specification and expired powder batches, green-state pressed compacts, and dry collected fines. It is generated inside the hardmetal industry itself rather than at the machine shop.

It must never be described interchangeably with solid carbide. Handling, sampling, packing and transport requirements are all different, and a buyer's recovery route for powder is usually not the same as for sintered scrap.

You cannot judge a powder lot by looking at it. Two drums from the same generator can differ, and material at the top of a drum is not representative of the bottom. The commercial basis for powder is therefore a representative composite sample taken across drums and depths, with the sampling protocol and analysis method agreed in writing before shipment.

Nautica does not operate its own laboratory. Where analysis is required it is performed by a laboratory or inspection company the parties appoint, and the result is a contractual matter between buyer and seller.

Powder streams pick up moisture readily, and moisture is weight without value. Material should be stored under cover in closed containers from the moment it is generated, and packed in sealed drums rather than open bags. Where moisture is significant, dry basis versus as-received basis must be agreed contractually rather than assumed.

Powders and fine residues are frequently described and controlled differently from solid metal scrap, and some destinations apply additional import controls or notification requirements to fine material. Nautica does not assign a tariff code in advance; importers must confirm classification and any permit or notification obligation with their customs broker or competent authority before contracting.

Soft scrap is production material that never reached final sintering: spray-dried granulate, pressed green compacts, presintered blanks, and reclaim powder from a pressing operation. Unlike used tooling, it usually comes with an identity — a batch number, a grade reference, a production record — because it was made under process control before it became scrap.

That documentation is unusually valuable in this stream, because powder cannot be assessed by looking at it. Two drums of visually identical grey granulate can be very different grades. Where batch records, grade references or the producer's own analysis exist, they should travel with the material; where they do not, the parcel is treated as unidentified powder.

Physical condition is the other half of the description. Powder that has taken up moisture, granulate that has agglomerated, and green compacts that have crumbled in transit all handle differently downstream. Closed, sealed, dry packaging is not a formality for this material — it is the difference between a controlled parcel and a residue.