# Am I melting at the right temp???



## Anonymous (Jun 28, 2008)

What temp (fahrenheit or celsius) should my electric furnace be at to melt out lead, nickel,and silver? In the refining handbook pg 14 it gave out melting point temps, but I didn't know if that is the temp to burn or evaporate out that portion of metal out of my gold? 

Also if I have 23 kt gold and I go over 1946 fahrenheit what will happen to my gold. I have the electric melting furnace shuttle and it melts up to 1120*c.

Thanks 
Mike T


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## Noxx (Jun 28, 2008)

At 1100*C, you can melt pure gold and any gold/base metals alloys.

Lead will melt pretty fast, silver melts at around 960C but you won't be able to melt nickel (1400C)

For more informations, don't forget that wikipedia is your friend


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## Harold_V (Jun 29, 2008)

I get the idea that you think you can sort various metals by controlling the temperature of your furnace. If so, you are badly misguided. 

The problem with this concept is that molten metals are generally strong solvents of other metals, so even if you don't melt those that require a higher temperature, the molten metal will dissolve them, much as hot water dissolves sugar. 

Once metals combine as an alloy, the melting temperature is no longer what it used to be. Combined, the temperature will generally be much lower than the melting point of any of the constituents.

Rarely can you separate metals by heat. I think you'll find you must use a chemical process for almost all separations. 

Harold


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