The other day at the scrap yard, i tried to sell a bunch of heat sinks. Told the guy i had extruded. He said that’s just sheet. I have always been under the impression that heat sinks are made with high grade aluminum, thus it’s considered extruded. I put my tote back in the truck. Sheet here in southern Maryland is going for .30 a pound. Extruded is listed at .60 a pound up in northern maryland. Am i wrong? Have any of you come across this issue?

Seems like all yards have a different term for specific types of metal. I have two yards in my local area and one calls heat sinks, window frames and the other calls them sheet aluminum. I have been told that painted heat sinks are not paid at the highest rate so I separate those as well.

My local yard also buys heatsinks as sheet. I'm not completely sure, so please don't quote me, but my understanding is that the term "extruded" refers more to a manufacturing process; the aluminum is pushed through a die to create the shape. It could very well be that it's a higher grade of aluminum too, I'm not sure about that part. I know sheet aluminum can be bent/folded/etc. into shapes to a certain degree, but to me a heatsink is pretty intricate, and would almost certainly have to be pushed through a die.

My yard buys them as extruded