AlphaDecay
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Magnesium Metal from scrapyard
Does anyone have any idea if I can find magnesium metal in machine, electronic, automobile parts in the scrapyard?
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gdflp
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I doubt you will be able to find the pure metal. Some of the more expensive car manufacturers, porsche, mercedes, bmw etc. use alloys in the engine
block and rims, but it will be hard to seperate the steel from it. In this case wikipedia might be helpful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium#Applications
[Edited on 1-4-2014 by gdflp]
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hyfalcon
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Camping store AND Harbor Freight have magnesium fire starters that has a solid block of magnesium in them.
Edit: Damn participle tense!
[Edited on 1-4-2014 by hyfalcon]
[Edited on 1-4-2014 by hyfalcon]
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BobD1001
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Alpha, how much magnesium do you need? Also, what is the required purity? I have a 20LB AM50A ingot of magnesium. According to this MSDS http://www.magretechinc.com/pdf/am50a2.pdf, it is approximately 94% magnesium. I have determined that although this may be fine for use as Mg
powder for exothermic reactions, and making magnalium, it is not suitable in reactions such as the isolation of elemental potassium. I am located in
the US, but if you need a chunk, and dont mind the shipping costs, I can send a pound or so your way (I think a little more than a pound would fit in
a small flat rate international box). Sourcing it locally (or even importing from china) may be a much more viable option though since you are in
Brazil.
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Muffn Man
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I saw an episode of MacGuyver a long time ago where he got magnesium from wheelchair wheels/spokes. I don't know if the wheels use magnesium in real
life but it may be worth checking out.
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HgDinis25
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Magnesium is used in fire starters like these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/i...
It used to also be used in pencil sharpeners (it's not a myth I've already found two sharpeners made of magnesium):
http://pencils.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/p-11841-kum_so...
For the orther uses, like light car parts, magnesium is usually alloyed with aluminium making it worthless to be used as a metal.
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jock88
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Anodes from ships may be available?
Are they pure Mg?
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BromicAcid
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It depends on how large a city you live near. When I lived near Detroit of course the scrap yards had the usual lead, copper, iron etc. But the
large scrap yards also had more exotic things. I called a local scrap yard to ask about nickel metal and they told me that they had some good purity
metal. Upon arrival they had a room full of different types of nickel. I still have a spool of nickel wire (hard to call it wire, probably 1/8 inch
thick) that has a few pounds left on it that I used for sodium hydroxide electrolysis. When I asked about what else they had, they had magnesium,
that was in the form of something like sheets, not sure what it was originally for or the purity. They also had some tantalum, silver, and other odd
ball stuff and told me to come back every few weeks since they hold on to the odd stuff till they get enough. Bottom line, it's worth a try.
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ziqquratu
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Try finding someone who repairs hot water systems. They use magnesium rods as sacrificial anodes to prevent corrosion of the tank.
I found a place who sent me about 2.5kg of offcut Mg rods, seemingly fairly pure except for the small (maybe 4-5mm diameter) steel rod running through
the centre (I think it was for mounting the Mg rod in the tank) for the cost of a post satchel.
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AlphaDecay
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Ok, thanks for all the useful information.
BobD1001, sorry but i rather not buy stuff from abroad.
Any information is well received
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IrC
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Quote: Originally posted by BobD1001  | | Alpha, how much magnesium do you need? Also, what is the required purity? I have a 20LB AM50A ingot of magnesium. According to this MSDS http://www.magretechinc.com/pdf/am50a2.pdf, it is approximately 94% magnesium. I have determined that although this may be fine for use as Mg
powder for exothermic reactions, and making magnalium, it is not suitable in reactions such as the isolation of elemental potassium. I am located in
the US, but if you need a chunk, and dont mind the shipping costs, I can send a pound or so your way (I think a little more than a pound would fit in
a small flat rate international box). Sourcing it locally (or even importing from china) may be a much more viable option though since you are in
Brazil. |
Link works fine when you remove the comma at the end.
http://www.magretechinc.com/pdf/am50a2.pdf
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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Bert
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A quick and dirty test to separate high Mg alloy scrap from Al: take a wire brush, sandpaper or a file and abrade/clean a small area down to shiny
metal. Brush some white vinegar (5% aceric acid) onto the cleaned area, if it bubbles, you've got Mg.
Most scrap Mg will be various high Mg alloys- Not much structural use for the pure metal, too soft.
The structural alloys tend to be tough and quite difficult to turn into powder. If you're sophisticated enough to smelt under inert gas, a 50:50 Mg:Al
alloy cast into a cold Iron or steel mould is as brittle as ice, can be broken up with a hammer and then ball milled. If you do, be sure to open the
mill jar and let air in every day or less, if you just let it run for a long time without allowing the surface of the particles to oxidize it can be
QUITE exciting to open up a jar of pyrophoric Mg powder.
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2. List any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement).
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jock88
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Mg welding rods
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Fantasma4500
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this might be of interest
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAGNESIUM-METAL-1-x-kilo-99-9-pure...
you can if you are lucky find more magnesium per given valuta, but this is a really good price
i ordered 1kg and will try to make it into 2kg MgAl some time
however i recall that motorblocks of specific car brands specified as being magnesium is usuallt 90 10 or around that MgAl
also.. got a 3.5kg magnesium non-salt water ship anode laying around, luckily that thing didnt become part of a recent fire, magnesium is not that
easy to get going..
otherwise i recall galliumsource sells magnesium in handy portions
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