What the Hell is it?

Not sure from what it is made, but a fellow I used to work with that used to be a prison guard once told me that the bars in jail cells had inner bars that rolled so that it would impede sawing with a hacksaw to hinder escape plans. I cant imagine what the material is that would not get hot with your torch.

Unobtanium

I found an improvised tool-looking item at a flea market a couple years ago, and stumbled across it a few days ago. I wanted it for the handle, which has a hollow steel section with a turned wooden handle, maybe part of an old electric soldering iron. It had an odd piece screwed into the end that almost looks like JB epoxy (but harder), with some weird quartz-looking particles in it. An old file just skidded across it.

I touched it to a running AO grinding wheel, and zingo.. clean wheel. Unlike a single point dresser, this part seems to be steel (about 5/8" diameter) with a pocket filled with chunks of diamond.

WB ..........

Sounds like you have one of the hinges of Hell. They are made from Hellium, a metal that is extremely hard, has a low coefficient of friction and is impervious to heat.

I haven't checked my brain before engaging my mouth here, but doesn't steel alloyed with zirconium do something like this or am I all wet?

examination

Such properties would be handy for locking bars for a vault door, just another wild-ass guess. Most I've seen have been plated, though. As to how to make it, one way might be to stuff the various materials into a larger, hollow billet for the outside, heat it up and roll them all out together.

Stan Stan

examination

Such properties would be handy for locking bars for a vault door, just another wild-ass guess. Most I've seen have been plated, though. As to how to make it, one way might be to stuff the various materials into a larger, hollow billet for the outside, heat it up and roll them all out together.

Stan Stan

Nuclear power plant fuel rod????? Ooops!!!!

"Wild Bill" wrote in news:426fa4ed$1_1@127.0.0.1:

What you have there sounds like a diamond grinding wheel dresser.

Believe it or not, that thought (fuel rod) occurred to me, but since I am still here and not glowing, I presume that it wasn't radioactive.

Carls' suggestion about steel/zirconium might have some validity. Need to check on the melting temp of such a mix.

Oh, the inner piece will not turn inside the outer sheath, so it is not a prison bar.

Thanks to all.

JRJ

Well, I doubt the casing itself would have much residual radioactivity, despite the large neutron flux it handles in use.

Zr isn't magnetic though, and likely throws bright white sparks just like titanium. I'm not aware of any iron alloys, seems to me it'd be brittle, but it might exist. (Nothing with 10% of each comes up on Matweb.)

Tim

-- "California is the breakfast state: fruits, nuts and flakes." Website:

It takes a hell of a dose of radiation to produce symptoms within hours of exposure. Also the effects are cumulative. If the fuel rod were used, lots of people including yourself would be in big trouble. If it were unsused, you are probably OK but some other people will still be in big trouble.

radioactivity,

Uh, 'much' is a relative term. As noted above, the effects of exposure are cumulative.

The casing for most reactor fuel is called zircaloy, don't know the composition of that alloy. TRIGA's use some sort of stable hydride (though maybe inside a thin layer of something else).

Do fuel rods have an outer sheath of mild steel? Don't think so, but this was obviously constructed to hold the 'swarf' (for lack of a better term) in the center hole. Still beats the hell out of me.

Research into zirconium was productive only in that I learned that the melting temp was around 3350 degrees F.

Still wondering, JRJ

As I recall, steel swells up with the bombardment from neutrons. And sticks in the reactor. Which makes it hard to withdraw. Seems like the Russians had this problem discovered the hard way. But it was a long time ago. ERS

examination

machines

remarkable

this could be a heat pipe - check out that technology and see if it makes sense

...

No, I think the outer case is zircaloy for power reactors. I don't know what it is for TRIGAs but it will be a corrosion-resistant alloy for any water moderated reactor.

But there are other radiation sources besides fuel rods. For example Polonium 210, an alpha emitter, is used to 'destatic' materials. But the Po-210 has to be on the outside for the alphas to reach the material.

There are medical sources using isotiopes like Cesium 137 (or 134) and ssources used for food and seed irradiation. Those will rely on Gammas or Betas, high energy betas can penetrate a thin layer of steel and the cource might be designed to use the 'build-up', secondary radiation scattered from the shielding when the radiation from the primary source is stopped.

It just _might_ be prudent to get that stuff checked out using a proper survey meter. Hospitals and Universities are not as tightly regulated as the nuclear industry.

If you're concerned about whether or not it is radio-active, place a roll of photographic film in its container near it for 24 hours, then develop it. If its exposed, start organising a medical examination!