# Melted these today.. Anybody dare to take a wild guess?



## samuel-a (May 1, 2013)

These are three different metals... take a wild guess what they are...
No winners or losers here. Just having some fun.

Clue: these are not precious metals.



(there's another clue in the picture)

The video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH8kkxZqzhE

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH8kkxZqzhE[/youtube]


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## rusty (May 1, 2013)

From left to right, palladium, platinum then rhodium.

Care to elaborate on arc melt.


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## squarecoinman (May 1, 2013)

Aluminum nickel and tin 

scm


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## kkmonte (May 1, 2013)

Tin, Nickel, Aluminum


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## samuel-a (May 1, 2013)

Rusty,

These are not PM's :mrgreen:


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## srlaulis (May 1, 2013)

Titanium one of them?


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## ericrm (May 1, 2013)

i would guess iron to the left, lead to the right, middle zinc


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## samuel-a (May 1, 2013)

srlaulis said:


> Titanium one of them?



One down! two to go...
8)


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## squarecoinman (May 1, 2013)

samuel-a said:


> srlaulis said:
> 
> 
> > Titanium one of them?
> ...



Tantalum

scm


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## samuel-a (May 1, 2013)

squarecoinman said:


> samuel-a said:
> 
> 
> > srlaulis said:
> ...



Two down!


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## jimdoc (May 1, 2013)

niobium


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## ericrm (May 1, 2013)

witch one is the tantalum?


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## etack (May 1, 2013)

ericrm said:


> witch one is the tantalum?



My guess would be the first one. It has that blue gray look and its oxidised. 

And if the are all refractory metals is the last one tungsten?


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## samuel-a (May 1, 2013)

etack said:


> is the last one tungsten?



Unfortunately no... i simply didn't had the time and had to leave before i had the chanceto melt the Tungsten sample.


*Left to right: Tantalum, Titanium, Molybdenum*

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So... Today i got the chance to visit a company that builds vacuum arc melting furnaces (and also EB melting and sputtering machines) and just so happen that they had one ready to ship to a client and i was invited to play with it. (oddly, they let my play with a 180K $ furnace... go figure :shock: )
With me being me... i always have all sort of metals samples in my car and my beloved video cam as well.

So there's a very cool video on the way.... here's a snap shot of the Ti melt down.




p.s - There's no oxidation as they are all melted under Aragon.


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## Anonymous (May 1, 2013)

rusty said:


> From left to right, palladium, platinum then rhodium.
> 
> Care to elaborate on arc melt.





samuel-a said:


> Clue: these are not precious metals.



Kevin


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## g_axelsson (May 1, 2013)

samuel-a said:


> p.s - There's no oxidation as they are all melted under Aragon.


I've just seen Lord of the Rings and I too think that Aragon is great! 8) 

Cool picture, what was the crucible made of?

Göran


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## etack (May 1, 2013)

samuel-a said:


> p.s - There's no oxidation as they are all melted under Aragon.



The Ta just had a rougher look than the rest

Eric


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## Platdigger (May 2, 2013)

Way cool Sam. Must have been fun to play with.


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## samuel-a (May 2, 2013)

etack said:


> samuel-a said:
> 
> 
> > p.s - There's no oxidation as they are all melted under Aragon.
> ...




Yes, we started with TaN.
Perhaps this 'crust' or rough surface could be attributed to an incomplete decomposition.


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## mls26cwru (May 2, 2013)

i actually do thin film coating for a living and we deal with e-beam melts all the time... its a pretty cool process to watch it melt the charges before evaporation... only takes a minute or two (we use small amounts for our depositions)

M


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## samuel-a (May 2, 2013)

mls26cwru said:


> i actually do thin film coating for a living and we deal with e-beam melts all the time... its a pretty cool process to watch it melt the charges before evaporation... only takes a minute or two (we use small amounts for our depositions)
> 
> M



That's awesome.
If you ever need new equipment shoot me a PM and i'll get you in touch with this manufacturer.
(as per their request, i will not disclose the name of the company in public)


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## Woodworker1997 (May 2, 2013)

mls26cwru said:


> i actually do thin film coating for a living and we deal with e-beam melts all the time... its a pretty cool process to watch it melt the charges before evaporation... only takes a minute or two (we use small amounts for our depositions)
> 
> M




Hi,
What type of coatings do you do? Physical hardness or Anti Reflection? My company is always looking for good AR coating facilities.

Derek


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## samuel-a (May 30, 2013)

The video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH8kkxZqzhE

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH8kkxZqzhE[/youtube]


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## samuel-a (May 30, 2013)

g_axelsson said:


> Cool picture, what was the crucible made of?
> Göran



The 'crucible' is actually made of copper.
The entire hearth (and electrode) is water cooled, thus preventing fusion.


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## g_axelsson (May 30, 2013)

Thanks! I just watched the video and... I WANT ONE TOO!!!

Maybe I should try to do something with my carbon evaporator, it should be able to do some fun stuff too. :mrgreen: 

Göran


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