What metal is this?

[resabed01]

This is from a very early hard disk drive. It's cast and then machined and has this yellow hue. It's light like aluminum. Could it be anodized aluminum? Cadmium?

 

[Barren Realms 007]

It is probably alluminum.

 

[resabed01]

Thanks! I'm guessing it is too. I looked up the density of both metals and cadmium is 2.5x more dense.

 

[Anonymous]

This is from a very early hard disk drive. It's cast and then machined and has this yellow hue. It's light like aluminum. Could it be anodized aluminum? Cadmium?

You forgot magnesium in your list of guesses, your HD case is probably die cast aluminum.


Die casting a slug of metal proportionally sized is electrically heated to almost a melted stage where the metal becomes plastic but not molten. Then the heated slug is inserted into a permanent mold which is then compressed forming the case you have in hand.

The process is similar to extruding aluminum through a die. the most common form of molding would be the screen door attached to your house or perhaps window frames. The aluminum alloy used for die casting and extruded are as different as day and night.

I do backyard metal casting and would never use either of these alloys for the castings I do, my preference is the aluminum alloys used in the automotive industry usually high in silicon.

Another good alloy with good wear resistance is Deltalloy used in the manufacture of hydraulic pumps and other goods requiring good resistance to wear.

 

[Harold_V]

It is (was?) commonplace to simply put an alodine finish on aluminum at some point in time. Could be that's what it is. It is not anodizing, if that be the case.

Harold