The following description is taken from my science blog: https://sciencewithryan.blogspot.com
In my last post, I constructed a furnace and used it to melt aluminum. Since then, I have perfected my methods and taken on a new challenge. Seeing as I was able to conquer aluminum, which melts at 1220 ℉, I decided to try another metal with a similar melting point. I chose magnesium (1202 ℉) simply because I had a lot of it on hand. I lit my in-ground furnace and I added some magnesium ribbon to my crucible which was soon to be red hot. Not long after, I ran into a problem I should have foreseen: the metal ignited. Yes, even after burning magnesium so many times to impress my friends, I had forgotten. I watched the intense white light as it filled the can. The magnesium had disappeared instead of melting.
I thought about ways to address this problem. How could I liquify the metal without setting it ablaze? In a perfect world, I could just melt it in a vacuum chamber. In the real world, I needed another solution. My next idea was to melt it under a liquid. But what liquid wouldn’t vaporize at 1200+ degrees Fahrenheit? My answer: a liquid metal. With my furnace still going, I filled my crucible, this time with aluminum. When a sufficient puddle had formed, I dropped in the magnesium. Unfortunately, its lower density caused it to float on top of the molten aluminum. This meant exposure to air and, once again, combustion. I fixed this problem rather easily. After dropping in a second piece of magnesium, I used a rod to press it beneath the aluminum’s slag layer. This kept it out of the air long enough for it to melt into the surrounding metal. As I repeated this technique, I realized that I was actually creating an aluminum-magnesium alloy.
When everything had melted, I retrieved the glowing crucible and poured it into a bucket of water. As the liquid metal broke the surface, it hissed violently. Of course, if I went from 1200 ℉ to 60 ℉ in under a second, I might hiss violently as well. I removed and examined the newly solidified metal. After doing some research, I learned that I had made a rough version of an alloy called magnalium. Magnalium is useful for its high strength and low density. It is found in everything from aircraft bodies to pyrotechnics. Through my experiment, I not only melted magnesium and created an alloy, but I also learned a few things in the process.
Post time: Jun-19-2017