Thank you for the response but it is definitely not aluminum. I had it analyzed using an xrf scanner on multiple points of the bar(see results posted in pictures) and it contains no aluminum. It does contain 14.94 percent rh, or rhodium. 6.68 percent pd, or palladium, 9.8 percent au, silver and3.36 pct ru, ruthinium. It also has a lot of iron and zinc and tin. The results from the xrf scanner were pretty much the same. They changed a few tenths of a percent at the various points we tested. I want to sell this thing and according to my math it has around 5 to 6 grams of rhodium, 3 grams of palladium, and 1 gram of ruthinium and 2 grams of silver in the alloy. Looking at today's spot values I'm coming up with a value of around $2,300.00 u.s. dollars. Of which I hope to actually get $1,200.00. I understand the refiner has to make a profit. Am I way off? I have never dealt in any thing like this before. It is a solid u channel bar. It is not plated. Thank you. I don't know where this came from or what industry it was used in. It seems like it is a structural piece, but why would anyone use such a valuable alloy for a structural thing?
cut small piece of it, make some solution of NaOH (lye, like 15-20%), put it inside and observe. if this contains any precious metals or metals listed above, they form a black ppt/sludge. aluminium will react bubbling hydrogen out, very straightforward to observe
XRF are extremely handy instruments, but they are effective in determination of the elements with higher mass, not the light ones. depends on the quality of machine, but older stuff and "low-end" stuff will read elements reliably from silicon, some are able to catch up aluminium, some even magnesium. lighter the element, less difraction from Xray beam, tougher detection, lower temperature needed to get some reliable accuracy...
but you need to set up the RIGHT MODE for scanning, otherwise machine get confused. many metals have overlayed absorption signals, so sometimes results should be taken just as informal and further testing is required
for example using mode for precious metals, machine maybe dont scan for light elements (abbreviated commonly as LE in reading). many machines have modes like "geochem", for analyzing ore and rock samples, and they usually give good results if higher percentage of light elements is present. usually at the start of the complex measurement, machine will precisely measure ratio of "heavier metals" first, and after like 10 seconds it "switches" for measuring the lighter elements, giving the precious metal content in ratio with bulk LE or even determining some of lighter elements like Si, K, Al, P etc
this sequence could vary from machine to machine, but it gives you some perspective