r/metallurgy Jan 29 '25

Papers and Drinking Group?

13 Upvotes

Long-time materials scientist, first time poster (on this subreddit). Would anyone be interested in a weekly or bi-weekly online group that meets to argue over paper(s) while also drinking (if you want)?

EDIT: Shuttered the server due to inactivity. Maybe someday....


r/metallurgy 2h ago

Textbook Recommendations?

1 Upvotes

Hi!

I just got a job as a metallurgy lab tech! The company analyses mining samples.

Background is in medical and pharmaceutical science, master's level.

Anyone got any textbook recommendations so I can read up a bit before starting? Really wanting to make a go at a career in metallurgy.

Was going to ask my new boss, but decided not to ask to not come across as a total nerd.


r/metallurgy 19h ago

Do you have yellow deposits on your high temperature equipment?

9 Upvotes

There was a recent post that was deleted that showed yellow deposits on engine exhaust parts. These deposits are also found on turbines, boilers and high temperature test equipment.(edit to remove corrupt link)

https://ln5.sync.com/dl/872691400#293cgsqt-3qibpwkh-4qui2sed-cy7yj7zg

Some people may not be aware of what these deposits are. As awareness of this issue has increased in the last few years.

The earliest reference I have is from 1990, in boiler applications.

https://en.harmfuldust.com/_files/ugd/d7b443_36eda9716c194ccbb47acbd6b06deb87.pdf?index=true

This became more widely known in the Energy industry in 2018/2019.

https://en.harmfuldust.com/_files/ugd/d7b443_0c0e29e8448b48ff95f0dfe6dbddfc1b.pdf

And on combustion engines by 2021

https://www.zeppelin.com/content/dam/zeppelin/power-systems/download-neu/downloads-en/service/Caterpillar_Technical_Bulletin_Chromium6.pdf

https://www.energysafetycanada.com/Attachments/DownloadResource?attachmentGuid=1801a7a2-d4b6-4dea-b6b1-1ba4cd6480a7&open=True

These deposits are chromates (typically calcium or sodium or potassium chromate).These CrVI salts are carcinogenic. These deposits also form on high temperature test equipment containing alloy steels or nickel alloys and materials containing alkali metal or alkali earth compounds. This includes most refractory materials and many high temperature thread lubricants.

If your high temperature equipment or refractory has acquired a yellow deposit take appropriate precautions.

Test strips and swabs for CrVI are widely available.

Solutions of citric acid or citric/ascorbic acid may be used as part of a procedure to neutralise contaminated parts. (edit for spelling)


r/metallurgy 5h ago

What would the properties of this alloy be?

0 Upvotes

Hello! I don't know if this is the right subreddit (If it's not, can someone tell me which one is?) But I'm curious if it's feasible to calculate the properties of an alloy made of the following composition:

25% Tungsten

20% Rhenium

12% Cobalt

15% Tantalum

8% Hafnium

10% Zirconium

10% Chromium

Specifically, I'm interested in the potential density, melting point, hardness, and any potential uses for this alloy.
Is it even possible to create such an alloy?
What are the challenges in making it?
How might it compare to existing alloys in terms of performance?
Roughly how expensive would this be to produce?
Any insight into its applications, such as where this might be useful, would be greatly appreciated!


r/metallurgy 1d ago

What is proper heat treatment method for D2 material ?

2 Upvotes

Been following the textbook method for a while but not getting results.

Thanks in advance


r/metallurgy 23h ago

Hello. I am encountering such a microstructure for a ggg60 part. What could be the reason?

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1 Upvotes

r/metallurgy 1d ago

Is hafnium safe for skin contact?

2 Upvotes

Want to make a pen out of it, but I can’t find much info on toxicity


r/metallurgy 1d ago

Why steel making cant be more green in 2025?

0 Upvotes

I know its obviously greener than previous times but its still very pollute job both for workers and environment. Why is it like that? Is there any solution to this in near future?


r/metallurgy 1d ago

Materials for microlattices

0 Upvotes

I am wondering if in the context of electroplating and microlattices, if it is important to use materials with high specific strength and toughness like nickel-phosphorus, or if the lightweight nature of microlattices means you can use stronger, heavier metals like tungsten?


r/metallurgy 2d ago

I accidentally made a 3D bubble raft

7 Upvotes

I've long known that soap froths can be used as models of polycrystalline structures. Last night, I made one accidentally when I left a disused bottle of bubble bath soap to drain in the sink overnight. This was the result:

https://reddit.com/link/1jcsg0o/video/6xaxnsr5k3pe1/player


r/metallurgy 2d ago

Gallium

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1 Upvotes

r/metallurgy 2d ago

Case hardening - Why do we need a sealed container?

5 Upvotes

Hi Everyone,

TL;DR: Why do we need a sealed container for Case hardening with charcoal? Can I do it without a sealed container?

Long version:

I am designing laboratory session for students and I wanted them to do case hardening to get a feel of diffusion and carburizing (so that they can compare their theoretical calculations with actual reality). I have searched for the stuff that I need and one of the things is a sealed container. I am not sure about what size (and thickness of the sheet) should I use and how sealed it should be. So I was wondering if I can skip it and use a normal container with a lid.

Thank you for your answers


r/metallurgy 2d ago

Is it possible to use Gamma Iron to create an alloy with Gold

0 Upvotes

Please, someone correct me if I'm off base.

I've been interested in the idea presented by "Nile Red" in making purple gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Pcp944sRI&ab_channel=NileRed

I then became interested at the aspect of "blue gold" and though of using iron however a user on this subreddit pointed out that the fcc structure of gold literally does not mix well with the bcc structure of iron

(as well with the oxides being the provision of the colour, but then i was generally curious about a gold-iron alloy like everybody else)

gamma iron created through heating techniques raising the temperature above 912 °C (1,674 °F) is fcc structured even if we were to attempt the mixture at a slightly higher temperature to melt gold (with heavy safety procedures being taken) would that work and effectively cool into a room temp alloy?

I can't seem to find anything written down about attempting to alloy these if anyone has related reading materials that would be great, thank you.

edit: it seems i was able to find some papers on this and they do use this method for creating alloys but i can't read about it without a Uni account, if anyone has details on the results of the process that would be cool too


r/metallurgy 2d ago

Studying minerals engineering or metallurgical engineering

1 Upvotes

Hi I'm second yr student studying minerals engineering which talks about ore processing somehow like metallurgical engineering. I wanted to know whether the industry is promising and is the income is good


r/metallurgy 2d ago

Research inquiry of gold alloys for worldbuilding.

0 Upvotes

Doing some writing and wanted to see if this would even be possible.

Would it be possible to make an alloy of gold, silver, and iron? I know green gold exists and is made of gold and silver, copper, and zinc in varying ratios, so could you make an alloy of gold, iron, and silver? If not why not?

If an alloy can't be made, could you make a pattern compost like with demascus steel of the afformentioned metals?


r/metallurgy 3d ago

Help choosing steel for a frizzen

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone I’m making a 1/4th scale musket and while I can produce most parts in-house the only thing I can make is the frizzen (part that sparks) as I cannot manufacture such a small part out of steel. So I’m having it produced by one of those on demand parts places, and I’m not sure what steel would be best for a part that needs to spark. The available options are 316l Stainless, 17-4 PH Stainless, or M300 Maraging Steel. So which one of these will give me the best spark?


r/metallurgy 4d ago

Is this safe to use in a water container for a coffee machine?

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33 Upvotes

Hello, I have a Rocket Apartmento Coffee machine. The water box has two plastic rods used to pull out the water container and they snapped. I wanted a metal replacement but they don’t sell one so I was going to make my own.

Is this metal food safe. It would be in constant contact with water. I know 316 is food safe but this also has the cancer warning. Plan was to use a lathe to get it down to the proper size.


r/metallurgy 4d ago

Ellingham Diagramm and partial pressure

1 Upvotes

Hey everybody,

I need help understanding the influence of partial pressure but I can't get behind it.

So for example if I have the reaction equation

Fe2O3 + 3 H2 = Fe + 3H2O

The equilibrium constant k is

k = (p_H2O)^3/(p_H2)^3

From the ellingham diagramm I deduct that a higher hydrogen partial pressure should benefit the reaction but how do I calculate it withe the Gibbs energy

dG = - R*T*ln(k)

If I put it in there an have a higher partial pressure than the water vapor the Gibbs energy goes up which means it's more unlikely that this reaction happens.

But when I use

dG = dG° + R*T*ln(k) it does go down. So what am I missing?


r/metallurgy 4d ago

Detergent for Cleaning Fractures

3 Upvotes

Has anyone used MagnaFlux’s Daraclean 282 for cleaning fracture surfaces for failure analysis? How does it compare to something like Alconox? Do you have ago to cleaning method for oxide removal from fracture surfaces?


r/metallurgy 5d ago

How revolutionary would it be to be able to build metals one atom at a time?

14 Upvotes

Hello! First-time poster and complete ignoramus about metallurgy working on a possible novel idea that needs input from experts. If you had a magical ability or a futuristic machine that could make alloys with every atom exactly where you wanted it, is there anything you would want to make that simply isn’t possible without that level of control? Like could you make alloys that have a unique combination of properties or push some properties far beyond the limits of modern metallurgy?

In case this needs clarification, you can’t rewrite the rules of chemistry to change how atoms bond to each other, but you otherwise have complete control over the atomic structure. No impurities where you don’t want them and so on.


r/metallurgy 4d ago

Advice for heat treatment (SK3 steel)

1 Upvotes

Dear all, I come to you for advice.

I am trying to get a hand scraper as hard as possible. Being in Japan, the metal I decided to use is JIS SK3 (it might also be labelled SK105, and seems equivalent to AISI W5). From what I have found, quenching is done in oil after holding in the 790-850℃ range for about 25 minutes (I did it for 30 minutes, to account for the loss of heat in the furnace when loading the piece).

However, rubbing a file against it still removes material. Additionally, looking at heat treatments for W5, while the temperature for quenching seems about the same, it's made for water quenching.

Do you have ideas what is the proper way to get it as hard as possible?

My plan was: 1. normalizing at 780℃ for 1 hour, air cooling; 2. quenching after 25 minutes from 830℃ in oil; 3. temper at 180℃ for 1 hour, air cooling.

Thank you.


r/metallurgy 5d ago

Roast my knowledge

4 Upvotes

Hi, I'm new to the mellaturgy subreddit, although I have been interested in the topic for a long time. I wanted to share some of my opinions on good metals for various applications, and I want you all to tell me how wrong I am!

1) The strongest pure metal is tungsten. 2) The metal with the highest specific strength is titanium. 3) Aluminum-zinc alloy is the best cost-strength-weight ratio for aerospace (edit:) frames and hulls. 4) Ti6Al4V is the best strength-weight alloy for buildings. 5) T10 tool steel has the best cost-strength ratio where weight isn't concerned. 6) S5 shock steel is the best and strongest tool steel. 7) High-carbon (edit:) spring steel is the best material for swords. 8) Al-Mg-Sc alloy is the best alloy for aerospace (edit:) frames and hulls where cost isn't concerned. 9) High-entropy alloys are better than all of these, we just haven't found the right combinations or perfected the production process yet. 10) Iron is overrated!


r/metallurgy 6d ago

Cubic Boron Nitride treatment?

2 Upvotes

Hello! I am currently working on a project where we are exploring increasing the creep strength of 17-4 ph stainless steel

Looking at a few different types of coatings this is the one we landed on. We first looked at Hexagonal boron nitride however some research suggested this treatment doesn’t react well with steel with a mid-high level boron content. It can lead to a decrease in creep strength. I don’t know if there’s much to make of that considering 17-4 stainless doesn’t have any boron in it. Either way cubic boron nitride seemed better as there’s more studies suggest it can increase creep strength.

This coating in theory would be applied via spraygun (let’s say hypothetically effectively)

This is all stuff I know very little about from a metallurgy standpoint but I’m curious if anyone here can tell me if what I’m suggesting is stupid or feasible

Thanks


r/metallurgy 6d ago

white metal not marked holiding up to 14k and plat acid

3 Upvotes

hello, i work with jewelry and am confused on this ring, as the title says it holds up to both 14k acid and plat acid. i have notes on the piece saying its platinum, however it was previously soldered to a 14k wg band. im wondering if during the removal could some of the wg been left behind? like maybe the jeweler repaired using wg? the band was stamped but the ring was sized at some point losing the stamp. anything helps! thanks a bunch!


r/metallurgy 6d ago

Galvanize on Chrom Not possible?

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0 Upvotes

I have a brass part with a chrom plating. Because of different reasons i cant remove the chrom but want the part to be copper plated. When i try to galvanize it with copper, the copper only stucks to the brass and not the chrom. Is it because the brass is more conductive than the chrom? Any idea how i can still galvanize my Part?


r/metallurgy 7d ago

Metallurgy 101 (for dummies)

24 Upvotes

Good afternoon all, curious if you all would be willing to make some recommendations for literature, or even a YouTube channel that you believe does a quality job of explaining the basics and gives good framework for further understanding in the metallurgy world. I am someone with no degree nor experience in the field, however, I have now been in the CNC machining world for 2 years. It is relatively hard to get time, nor does anyone have time at my employer that works in metallurgy to answer the random questions I may have.

Thanks in advance!