Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Cheap/Easy Sources of Magnesium Metal

DionSukhram6 - 7-6-2017 at 07:50

I need some Mg metal immediately for a project I'm working on so I would prefer to find somewhere I can go and buy it from. For example, I can get a bunch of cheap magnesium fire starters, but how much Mg do they actually have?

Melgar - 7-6-2017 at 09:19

I pulled mine out and weighed it. They're about 30 grams, give or take.

PirateDocBrown - 7-6-2017 at 10:05

Pyrotechnics suppliers. Pretty sure Skylighter has turnings for $8 a pound or so.



[Edited on 6/8/17 by PirateDocBrown]

ELRIC - 7-6-2017 at 12:47

The old Lawnboy push mower frames were made out of Mg, if that helps any.

[Edited on 7-6-2017 by ELRIC]

Σldritch - 7-6-2017 at 13:09

You can buy magnesium boat sacrifical anodes.

Also found this on ebay, not very pure but pretty cheap:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=magnesium+metal+98%25+i...

I have not ordered any yet so im not sure if it is legitimate.

[Edited on 8-6-2017 by Σldritch]

Morgan - 7-6-2017 at 14:26

Oddly there's some 5 ounce magnesium coins for sale on eBay.

RogueRose - 7-6-2017 at 17:12

Look for old apple laptop computer frames as well as Dell (Latitude and dimensions series) laptops. The shells and frames are often Mg (the part that is the back of the LCD - the "clam-shell" type part). A lot of these look like they are plastic, but they are in fact magnesium. I'm pretty sure most apple pro (and especially Air notebook's) are Mg.

Other than this, fireworks suppliers I would think.

j_sum1 - 7-6-2017 at 17:47

I have found Mg ribbon in 25g rolls for as cheap as a dollar each.
My most recent purchase was 100g blocks (I think they are ingot offcuts of some kind). They were IIRC 3.5 USD each.
So, Mg does not need to be that expensive.

I have not even looked at magnesium alloy wheels. i am pretty sure that you would find a large number of alloying elements -- especially aluminium. But it might be more than suitable for many applications. And you could probably pick up damaged ones for next to nothing from a car wrecker.

Sulaiman - 7-6-2017 at 18:25

I have ribbon, cylinder, powder form magnesium of high purity (from electrolytic cell experiments),
magnesium via eBay is surprisingly cheap.

I suspect that like aluminium, many manufactured magnesium products may be alloys, not sure.


[Edited on 8-6-2017 by Sulaiman]

[Edited on 8-6-2017 by Sulaiman]

violet sin - 7-6-2017 at 18:49

http://m.ebay.com/itm/44-Magnesium-Sacrificial-Anode-Rod-for...

30$ 2lb sac anode for water heater, free shipping , of course Im sure you could pull one from a scrap yard for nearly free... the waterheater need not be working for the rod to be salvaged.

Fulmen - 7-6-2017 at 22:02

Any shaped product will be made from Mg alloy, these usually contain 5-10% Al, perhaps 0,5% Mn and up to 1% Zn.

A quick test is to place a drop of silver nitrate on bare metal, pure Mg will instantly turn black.

NedsHead - 8-6-2017 at 00:52

My pencil sharpener claims to be magnesium, it was cheap and easily available

diddi - 8-6-2017 at 02:58

aeroplane wheels are Mg also. might be able to get scrap from airport mechanic

DionSukhram6 - 10-6-2017 at 09:45

Ok that was helpful and I was able to get a good amount of solid Mg but I could use about half a mole of it ground up into powder. I've tried a steel file but I haven't even been able to get a gram of powder yet.

subskune - 10-6-2017 at 11:36

If you only want to carry out a reduction that does not care much about the reducing agent you can make a 50/50 al/mg alloy which can be powderized with a hammer.

Melgar - 10-6-2017 at 12:30

Yeah, don't listen to the user saying you should melt it down with aluminum. A magnesium fire is not something you want to deal with.

I've had the best luck drilling holes in it and collecting the shavings.

subskune - 11-6-2017 at 03:32

Quote:

Yeah, don't listen to the user saying you should melt it down with aluminum. A magnesium fire is not something you want to deal with.


Thats true but it won't catch fire. I have done this many times and a small ceramic crucible in a muffle oven with lid on served very well and there was no fire at all. It shouldn't be put in open air thats right.


[Edited on 11-6-2017 by subskune]