Can magnesium be used instead of zinc for cementing?

[g_axelsson]

Hi!

I have a friend that bought two sacrificial zinc anodes for me. When he handed them over it turned out to be magnesium instead of zinc.
My question is can I use magnesium instead of zinc for cementing PGM metals or should I get rid of the Mg anodes and hunt for zinc instead?

I searched the forum but found only seven posts that were relevant and mentioned "zinc or magnesium" for cementing Pd and Rh. One by GSP mentioning he could have used magnesium for recovery of rhodium from plating solution.

My plan is to turn it into magnesium shavings if I can use it. I got a jar with tea-colored solution that seems to contain Pd and Pt after I dropped gold from it. It comes from some dental materials I've been saving for 20 years.

/Göran

 

[samuel-a]

Hello Goran

Mg will drop PGM just as well as Zn.

 

[g_axelsson]

Thanks! Then if no one else stops me I'll turn one of the bars into Mg shavings on the mill at the workshop on Monday.

/Göran

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Be careful as you work with magnesium. Have you ever seen magnesium ribbon burn? Incredibly bright white light due to the extreme high temperature at which it burns. It does take a bit of heat to get it going, but once it's lit you could have quite a flash!

If I were to undertake such a project, I would probably clear my shavings away from the workpiece often. If something does occur to ignite it, the less shavings on the pile the better.

Dave

 

[g_axelsson]

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to put up barriers of paper around the vice so I don't mix it with any dirt and I will collect the shavings quite often, not letting it pile up.

Burning a magnesium ribbon was a common experiment in chemistry class so I'm familiar with it.
Actually I accidentally set a piece of massive metal on fire once. It happened during a trip to the forest. After fixing some sausages for lunch we started to play with the fire. First putting an aluminum can and melting it, then adding a couple of pieces of scrap aluminum from the trunk and actually starting to melt it, when of a sudden there was a extremely bright light from the fire, one of the scrap pieces were magnesium. It outshone all the fire and red hot coals, it looked like the fire just went out as all the red hot coals now looked black in contrast. It took several minutes before we stopped laughing hysterically. :lol:

/Göran

 

[Geo]

magnesium or "mag" is used to ignite Thermite.

years ago when i was scrapping for a living, i accidentally set a VW transmission on fire cutting the bolts out with a torch. that this burned all day and night. it burned over a foot deep into the ground and made enough white ash (magnesium oxide) to fill three wheel barrow loads.

 

[qst42know]

Magnesium reacts very quickly I wonder if you could just stir your solution with the rod and get a complete drop?

 

[g_axelsson]

I just found out that the 0.5 kg magnesium anodes is sold for $60 each, I paid $6 for two new anodes. I also found out that a company selling these lies just half a km away and that they have 0.5 kg 99.995% zinc anodes for $10. I'll drop by tomorrow and buy me some zinc and then I'll sell the Mg anodes to a rich boat owner.

:mrgreen:

/Göran