I went and got a couple of cocktail shakers today. Melted some Al in a charcoal chimeny with hardware store briquette charcoal. Added Mg, closed lid and voila, MgAl


I made up the furnace as such, but with chicken wire support:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/ColdFurnace.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/ColdFurnaceII.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/ColdFurnaceWithCruciable.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/ColdFurnaceWithCruciablelidded.jpg

I got my 150g of Al and approx 155g Mg:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/MdAndAl.jpg

I melted the Al down first:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/BurnDatShit.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/AddingAl.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/AlMelt.jpg

I didn't get a pic of adding Mg, as it was too risky to tie up one hand with a camera.

The top of the melt was butt ugly:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/Globs.jpg

But I got a few good flakes off:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/Flakes.jpg

The ingot took some hammering on the base of inverted cruciable to get out, but here it is:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/mephistosminion/MgAlIngot.jpg

I'm gonna take to the top with a file to get the shit off, then smash it up, get some steel media for my mill and get powdering :D

Awesome man! I've been wanting to make MgAl for a long time now... I need to get more aluminum... I have a 15.5lb ingot of magnesium though.

I keep getting distracted. Need to get some more refractory cement and finish my furnace already.

I was gonna go down the propper furnace road, but I saw these chimeny things on APC and went and got one. Works a treat. Al melts in about 15min once coals are hot, and the Mg melts like ice cubes when you put them in it.

Yeah they are pretty handy. I intend to do alot more metal casting down the road though hence the furnace. I might actually have one of those coal starters around already... hmm...

Just do it. I had my Mg sitting around for over a year and didn't act on it. Did it last night and I am very satisfied. A root afterwards would have been perfect, but alas, the missus wasn't availiable :(

If your batch catches on fire sprinkle a bit of Sulfur or CaCl2 on it. Also be careful if it catches fire, lots of UV light is emitted.

DO NOT put sulfur on burning magnalium. That's got to be the stupidest thing one could do. It's a lot better to just put on some airfloat or fine ground charcoal, saves your lungs that could be hacking for 3 days. Even ground up briquettes would work.

http://www.vk2zay.net/article/85
"I had no suitable flux prepared, but learnt ages ago that if I did get into trouble with a Magnesium fire Sulfur would put it out for me. It is a very effective trick that has saved my butt several times now. The Magnesium Sulfide layer that forms is very stable, unlike the Oxide/Nitride layer that just foams and cracks away as it forms allowing more exposure of the metal to oxidisation rather than passivating like Aluminium does."

...

"On stirring and skimming the dross with trapped Magnalium burst into a shower of crackling sparks as soon as the spoon is removed from the furnace and the atmosphere had a chance to get at the metal. A little Sulfur was tossed onto the burning metal particles and they soon went out.

Once the alloying was completed a little Sulfur was thrown into the crucible to grow up a nice Sulfide layer. The Sulfur actually reacts more violently with the crucible than the melt, if you get too much on the walls of the can it will burn right through in a shower of sparks, use just a sprinkle, the Sulfur vapour will engulf the entire surface of the melt quite quickly and form a stable protective layer. The burner was then turned off and the tuyere blocked. (If the metal ignites some extra sulfur can be added) Finally the furnace is closed up with a fire brick to keep the oxygen level near the metal as low as possible during cooling."

=====================
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.pyrotechnics/browse_thread/thread/bacb010f3bccecad/b1e46b857183577a?hl=en&lnk=st&q=magnalium#b1e46b857183577a
" The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry
8:18 770 August 31, 1899
[I own Vol's 1-48. 1882-1928]
A New and Improved Alloy of Magnesium and Aluminium
AG Brookes, London.
From L Mach, Jena, Germany
English Patent 24,878, November 23, 1898.

The alloy consist of 100 parts of aluminium and from 10 to 30 parts of magnesium, the exact
proportions between these limits being regulated by the results required. A clean workable
metal is obtained which is lighter than aluminium. In addition, copper, nickel, German silver, or
other alloying metal may be incorporated in convenient quantities, or in such proportions that
the specific weight of the alloy does not exceed that of aluminium. The magnesium is added, in
small pieces, to the aluminium under potassium chloride. [mp 771oC CRC Hbk.]

--
donald j haarmann — eminence grise "




"In fire assay work sometimes
a cover of salt is placed over the assay charge. It serves two purposes. One
to keep some of the metal complexes which are volatile (in the true sense of
that word) from escaping before the flux has a chance to collect them and,
to keep oxygen from entering the molten mix and oxidizing some of the more
reactive metals in the ore allowing those metals to escape into the
atmosphere of the muffle and be lost from the assay.
--

Don Thompson "



"The low density of magnesium causes many problems with the use of salt cover
fluxes -- the magnesium will float on most. Most of them require magnesium
chloride (and KCl), a much lighter salt, which is harder to obtain and often
expensive. Sulfur dioxide and sulfur hexafluoride are often used to displace
the oxygen in vessels, a gas flux if you will. I've had success by adding
smalls amounts of sulfur (thus producing SO2) and it noticeably reduces
oxidation and ignition for short periods of removing the lid for a peak. A
pinch or two of sulfur powder and a lid of some sort work extremely well.
But again, the problem comes with pouring the metal...the gas cover is lost
as soon as you tip the crucible and ignition will commence if the
temperature is right.
450-460C (no glowing whatsoever) is a low enough temperature to pour.
Magnesium itself melts around 650C, and ignites shortly after. At 450C your
are much safer and it will likely not ignite, but heavy oxidation will still
occur so put a cover on the mold. Let cool any more and you won't be
pouring.

Clay graphite crucibles may present a problem if you're letting the metal
solidify in them. Often the surface is not smooth enough to permit simple
extraction (the slag and dross on the surface usually cause this, as they do
not shrink as much and will bind to the walls) and many times you'll have to
pry it out -- likely to break or chip the fragile clay walls.

--
Joe "

(sometime in 2004)
========================

So there you have it. Generally just melting it down in a covered container and not risking a pour is the easist/safest way.

SO2 in that small of amounts isn't anything to worry about, your not in an enclosed space... your not hovering directly over the furnace/coals. We're talking like a fraction of that that would be in 100g of BP.

CaCl2 might be too dense, but depending on the size of the Mg chunks that might not matter. Meh.

Congratulations!
It's been a while since somebody actually did something worthwhile around here and actually posted it!

I once made MgAl by throwing a piece of computer heat sink in a cooking pot with a equal weight piece of magnesium and stuffing it in arc furnace. its not exactly a new idea, and the charcoal heater is ghetto as fuck, although probably cheaper then paying for electricity. I wish I took pictures.

I kept the lid on so it would not oxidize as much, when I took the lid off it would ignite. Needless to say I do not enjoy working around molten metal.

What is that cocktail shaker made of? I wouldn't have thought to use that as a crucible, do you know what metal(s) it is made of and what the meting temp of that would be???

Picked me up a 9lb chunk of magnesium thats part of a military inner wheel assembly for their vehicles. It cost me a whole $2.70, I thought that was reasonable. Might get around to making magnalium some day after all, I use enough of it.