powdered aluminum

[rthmjohn]

Exactly how long are we talking? Is the powder finer than simply filing a block of metal. I ground up some aluminum foil in a blender into tiny little bits... would it take long to mill this?

[YT2095]

how long`s a bit of string?

It`s impossible to determine as there`s many factors to consider here (least of all Mill efficiency) What grade/mesh do you want the powder at is the Most important.

so No One can tell you this really, sorry, but that`s facts.

 

I ran mine for 2 days (over 48 hours) and had 400gr of lovely Flash grade alu powder and that was with the addition of oil. so that should give you a rough indication

[rthmjohn]

400 mesh is REALLY good. Days is pretty standard for most applications. When you said AGES I thought you meant like a week or so... United Nuclear sells this really nice ball mill for 70 bucks with lead media. I think I'll just use this to make my powdered aluminum from now on.

[YT2095]

I`m not over keen on Lead mediums (though I Have used it in the past), at least Not for alu powder making, it`s fine for other mixtures (green meal for instance), but I`de not use it for alu ever.

[rakuenso]

i found place that's sellling 450 grams for $25

[rthmjohn]

I`m not over keen on Lead mediums (though I Have used it in the past), at least Not for alu powder making, it`s fine for other mixtures (green meal for instance), but I`de not use it for alu ever.

 

should i use ceramic or chrome plated steel?

[xeluc]

I'd imagine chrome plated steel as the website says that the ceramic is slower at grinding, although produces purer contents. Of course, I'd need to know why Lead is such a horrible Choice. Quartz apparently works ;-)

[akcapr]

lead is too soft if u ask me- if u grind a metal u want something harder to grind with than the metal ur grinding

[rthmjohn]

Then I will use chrome plated steel or quartz. They're supposed to be great on hard materials.

 

btw... YT, is that you in your new avatar? Were you the man in the old one?

[YT2095]

yes it`s me and yes that was me in the old one too, just 5+ years ago.

what you don`t see is that my hair is still half a metre long down my back in this new one

 

go with round Quartz, it`s Free )

[rthmjohn]

Where would I get quartz and what does it look like?

[YT2095]

Where would I get quartz and what does it look like?

 

you can get off a beach, they`re often pure white (rock solid LOL) and idealy rounded at all sides (you don`t want chips in them or cracks), you can get them from gravel beds too or sometimes just digging in the garden!

 

you want about a kilo, and each one roughly the same size as the others (10 to 12mm avg).

 

then you need to put them in hydrochloric acid, if any of them "Fizz" get rid of them, it`s probably calcium carbonte,

the ones that don`t are good to use

[ZuluWarrior]

In that case, you'd be best off going to a paint store and buying the bottles of powdered aluminum that many of them carry. (Actually, I should have said 'art' store instead of paint store).

 

 

Would this be the oxide or the pure metal?

[[w00t]]

If would be the actual metal, to my understanding.

 

Here in Australia they have tough new laws, and you cant just buy it as it can be used in a hazardous way.

 

There are some online places in Australia that sells them but they take down your Ph.Number and address before hand and they foward them to the federal police. If theres some kinda terrorist attack they would have your house to search first. Not a good thing if you have a chemical collection.

 

edit: Could the powder be made from foil using mortar and pestle?

[xeluc]

I'd imagine it'd be possible.. but do you REALLY want to grind that thing for.... Hours and hours and hours to get a few grams of powder?

[rakuenso]

ok i have aluminum flakes (but they look like powder) whats the best way to grind these things..

[RyanJ]

ok i have aluminum flakes (but they look like powder) whats the best way to grind these things..

 

I used a blender and it worked quite well... it ruined the blender though

 

You know you cna buy real cheap powderd aluminium right?

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Pleiades]

I couldn’t get any locally so I made some in a ball mill; it took about 2 weeks 24/7. Actually it was a small rock tumbler (bout 4 inches diameter, 5 inches long), I was using steel grinding media, just some regular cylindrical roller bearings. I started with regular household aluminum foil. The biggest problem I had was that the little squares of foil wouldn’t break up because aluminum is so malleable, I stuck the little squares in an old blender and this resulted in a bunch of rolled up balls of foil. These eventually flattened a bit in the mill, but did break up after several weeks. Drill shavings would have worked better I think.

 

The resulting powder was fine enough that it stuck to everything, leaving a cool silvery film on the plastic of the ball mill, and on my fingers, and just about everything else it touched. You have to be sure that you open the ball mill every so often to let the newly exposed surfaces oxidize. Aluminum is pyrophoric, meaning the powdered unoxidized aluminum inside the ball mill will react violently with oxygen when you open it up. You have to open it up regularly to let it oxidize gradually instead of all at once. I haven’t actually had this happen so I don’t know for sure what it is like, but I’m not about to find out.

 

I was making it for a thermite reaction, but the iron oxide I made was too impure.

[[w00t]]

Hmm on the topic of Thermite, i went and bought 500g of OXIDE Powder, which was redish brown. It didnt say if it was IRON or not, and it was used for cement colouring, so im assuming its iron oxide..(is there a way to test if it is?)

 

Also, How fine does the aluminium have to be for thermite? i have to make my aluminium powder as every thing here is illegal because everyone is scared of terrorism

[YT2095]

woot, try and dissolve some in heated sulphuric acid, it should leave a pale green soln of iron sulphate.

[RyanJ]

']

Also' date=' How fine does the aluminium have to be for thermite? i have to make my aluminium powder as every thing here is illegal because everyone is scared of terrorism[/quote']

 

The stuff they use normally has grains about sand grain sized, the composition mix allows for the most heat too be produced and the site of the particles make the reaction last longer

 

It should work with just about any size (Unless your talking 1CM cubes ), the smaller the grains the faster the reaction

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones