Howdy,
Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place to post this.
I'm working on a machanical experiment that requires a dense, nontoxic and reasonably inexpensive fluid. The melting point and price of calcium chloride hexahydrate, appears to make it a tolerable candidate. (I was brought to this material based on the knowledge that salts have been broadly used for valve cooling in piston engines.) Within the experiment we will be passing our selected fluid in mixture with a (also preferably as inert as possible) gas through a pressurized heat exchanger.
I'm not a chemist. My question stems from concerns for toxicity and corrosion. I am looking to achieve a minimum of risk from exposure, and a low corrosion rate in the design of the heat exchanger. A pressure explosion is considered a possibility, and we are using safety precautions. But from a chemistry standpoint I am concerned about reactions causing toxicity levels significantly beyond those experienced in a typical mechanical engineering lab. My questions are:
- First, is there something else out there that is liquid at around
- How hazerdous is calcium chloride hexahydrate? Does it do anything nasty when combined with common metals? (copper, aluminum, iron) How about water?
- What gas should I use?
- What materials should I use for the heat exchanger?
My current design is to use helium gas, calcium chloride hexahydrate as a fluid, and an aluminum heat exchanger. Ultimately my question boils down down to: is there anything chemistry related here that would put me in the running for a darwin award?
Thanks in advance!