Finding really dense metals

I'm looking for something even denser than lead. Ideally I'd like to fill up a small can, about pint-size, with scrap metal and get a weight close to 10kg (22 pounds). I might not make 22 pounds but if I could just get most of the way there it'd be good.

Lead is of course much more available but only about 65% as dense. It takes me almost a quart of lead to get that much weight.

Tungsten and uranium fall in this category. Anyone know of a good souce of these, or other heavy metals, as scrap metal? I suspect they show up in some aerospace junkyards... I've heard as depleted uranium being used as counterweights in aircraft. And both probably show up in armor-piercing weapons. I'm not fundamentally opposed to cutting or machining either of these to make the scrap fit into a can densely but I suspect they are not the best things to have floating around the shop as dust. Lead I can melt, but I don't think I can use a propane torch to melt tungsten or uranium, can I? I think Uranium filings would probably just burn...!!!

Tim.

Reply to
Tim Shoppa
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Tungsten has a *really* high melting point (6192?°F), and uranium is pretty high as well (2070°F). In anything, you'd need a chunk large enough to machine down to size. What's your price range on this project? Neither of these metals will be cheap, and I'm not sure if you can even get Uranium. At least in the US, I'd expect the NRC and FBI to take a sudden interest in your hobbies if you went about trying to get Uranium, although I don't know the exact legal status of it.

-Nick

Reply to
Nick Leone

Have a look here

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might do and it's easy to melt but not so easy to machine! White metal might be your best bet.

John

Reply to
John

snipped-for-privacy@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...

Depleted uranium isn't that radioactive, and it _is_ used in civil aviation as a dense counterweight material.

AFAIK uranium is very toxic, chemically, totally aside from any radioactive effects. It is recognized as toxic to the point where those aircraft counterweights are coated and given a warning color, where lead is not. I'd get my hands on an MSDS before I even began to think of handling it, so I knew whether it was a rubber-gloves sort of thing or a full body suit sort of thing.

Tungsten is much more benign, although it's very hard so it'll be very difficult to machine.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

mmm, mercury

Reply to
Jon

Mercury is cool, a little denser than lead but not much. In my town, though, if you drop a thermometer you get a hazmat squadron showing up.

"White metal" I think will always be less dense than lead. It might have lead but it has other less dense metals too, right?

In previous jobs I got to play with not just lead but also tungsten bricks.

Tim.

Reply to
Tim Shoppa

Again, I was hoping to get some random scrap that could go into a can or bucket pretty densely.

Don't want to pay too much more than lead, but I'll pay a little more. Lead scrap sold for fishing weights at the junkyard seems to be $2 a pound, and I'd pay more for denser metals than lead, so max price I'd like to pay for 20 pounds of denser stuff would be circa very low hundreds of $.

Like I said, I am looking for scrap, not machining down from billet! With scrap I could contemplate trying to pack it all into a little pint-size can, without having to melt it down or do too much cutting.

Tim.

Reply to
Tim Shoppa

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circa 8 kg per pint, not quite the desired 10.

Iridium and osmium would meet the spec of >10 kg/pint but they're a bit pricey -- around $400/troy oz. 10kg is 321 troy oz, about $128,400 worth. Still, it's heavier than gold at less than half the price, heckuva deal!

Reply to
Don Foreman

Maybe some junk tungsten carbide bits cast into a Pb matrix?

15.6 g/cm^3 for tunsten carbide 11.3 g/cm^3 for lead

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Ahah, that starts to sound like a good possibility!

Where could I find 15 or 20 pounds worth of junk tungsten carbide bits for cheap?

Tim.

Reply to
Tim Shoppa

Clever!

Reply to
Don Foreman

Throw in a few Tungsten TIG electrodes for the small spaces. Pure tungsten electrodes have fallen from favour, so you might find some cheap.

Pete

Reply to
Pete Snell

Mercury?

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills:
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Spindle Drills:
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V8013-R

Reply to
Joe AutoDrill

I don't think you will. I was offered $11/lb for tungsten carbide scrap last week. I'd expect tungsten metal scrap would sell for at least twice that.

(This week I've been designing a heat treat fixture that'll be made of tungsten.)

Reply to
Ned Simmons

Tim:

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Tungsten. Not scrap, but fine powder. Not cheap, either: $11/lb for

10 lb or more

Best -- Terry

Reply to
Terry

"Tim Shoppa" wrote: Like I said, I am looking for scrap, not machining down from billet! With scrap I could contemplate trying to pack it all into a little pint-size can, without having to melt it down or do too much cutting. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The reason people are suggesting a solid billet is that no matter how you try, you will not get the spaces out from between the pieces of scrap. You lose average density due to the little spaces between the pieces. You probably won't come out ahead of solid lead pured into the can.

Maybe you could fill the can as full as possible with scrap tungsten or uranium, and then pour molten lead into the spaces.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Cheap enough that it must be a mistake. Maybe that's the price per ounce? Here are prices from 3 years ago, approaching $20/lb in ton quantities. (you need to pay to get current data).

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W has been climbing steeply since. I know tungsten carbide scrap has more than doubled since 2005.

Reply to
Ned Simmons

So get some of that, a bunch of epoxy and mix up some heavy composite and cast the item. Heavy on the tungsten powder and light on the epoxy.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

I see you are also looking for large ceramic insulators. What are you making?

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

You could just take a bag of dirt to a political rally. Basic alchemy

Reply to
Stupendous Man

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