Stovetop Metal Casting
From Open Source Ecology
- 900F dissolving point of aluminum in zinc from pennies to get Zn-Al alloy that is 80% the strength of mild steel. Simple pot on a stove does it. Takes advantage of low melt temp of zinc.[1]. Takes advantage of higher strength of aluminum and has strength better than aluminum. Zn tensile strength is 30ksi.
- This removes the induction furnace from the requirement of melting aluminum for aluminum casting.
- Melting point of 900F is 480C. Aluminum is 660C.
Links
- Alloy melt temperatures - [2]
- Open Source Metallurgy Construction Set
- This desktop arc furnace (from a welder, a firebrick, and battery electrodes) can melt pretty much anything (including river rocks). It could be quite easy to scale up a bit
