How can I buy 99.5% iron bar?

[homebrewed]

Wow. I am all-in for a 1x2x6" bar of DU. I gather that machining it safely is well beyond hobby-level work. (I did make a sort of clean box with a vacuum for machining the antimony--the floating fractured powder is clearly seriously bad to breathe and my 3M P100 mask I don't have all that much confidence in. I think you'd need an actual professional system to safely machine DU). I also think that once machined, it is probably reasonably safe to handle. The problem in reading MSDSs is supposedly everything is really bad. Like half the solvents I use regularly are supposed to be nasty. And lead and cadmium read more like arsenic than like steel. I am guessing after a few more decades my collection will be given to some high school. And, my guess, is the lead and cadmium will not be allowed in the school. Sigh. But DU! Now, that would be worth some work to machine to size. Of course, I have zero idea how to obtain large ingots of DU. Though, putting small pieces into a steel mold and melting it myself seems pretty neat. Sheese, my wife would kill me if she learned my habit had moved me from the mildly apparently serious to the seriously apparently serious. Thank you for the idea. I had honestly never even considered it.

I had thought that DU was being sold to element collectors like yourself, but a quick search through ebay only found books about it. Sorry to get your hopes up!

 

[Flyinfool]

I found some fun info on machining of DU.

MACHINING DEPLETED URANIUM. (Technical Report) | OSTI.GOV

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information

www.osti.gov

A video camera would be required as it could get exciting at any time.

I did not see the noble metals like Gold, silver Platinum, Rhodium.

 

[homebrewed]

I found some fun info on machining of DU.

MACHINING DEPLETED URANIUM. (Technical Report) | OSTI.GOV

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information

www.osti.gov

A video camera would be required as it could get exciting at any time.

I did not see the noble metals like Gold, silver Platinum, Rhodium.

I don't think I would want to machine DU. Sounds like a great way to burn up your lathe/mill/shop/house. Then you breathe the oxide and die of lung cancer.

 

[whitmore]

I am interested in a 1" x 2" x 6" (or bigger) bar of fairly pure iron. 99.5% would be nice.

Nearly all the iron grades, and steel grades, I see are not this pure.

From my lab days, we used Armco iron when we wanted pure metal; it's apparently still available.

Armco iron properties

So, it's 99.85% or better.

but I'm not sure how or where to get a small quantity...






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[macardoso]

I found some fun info on machining of DU.

MACHINING DEPLETED URANIUM. (Technical Report) | OSTI.GOV

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information

www.osti.gov

A video camera would be required as it could get exciting at any time.

I did not see the noble metals like Gold, silver Platinum, Rhodium.

Wow! Cool find! Thanks for sharing!

 

[macardoso]

From my lab days, we used Armco iron when we wanted pure metal; it's apparently still available.

Armco iron properties

So, it's 99.85% or better.

but I'm not sure how or where to get a small quantity...






Like Quote Reply

Report

They might just provide you a sample. I've gotten a lot of cool stuff just by asking if someone would help me out.

 

[Bill Kahn]

From my lab days, we used Armco iron when we wanted pure metal; it's apparently still available.

Armco iron properties

So, it's 99.85% or better.

but I'm not sure how or where to get a small quantity...






Like Quote Reply

Report

It is simply marvelous how much there is to know and understand about a material. Thank you for this technical report. Makes me think that if I had to run it all again maybe I should have studied material science. (No, no actual regrets. We make our choices and mine, in aggregate, turned out just fine. But this report is really interesting.). -Bill

 

[Bill Kahn]

I found some fun info on machining of DU.

MACHINING DEPLETED URANIUM. (Technical Report) | OSTI.GOV

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information

www.osti.gov

A video camera would be required as it could get exciting at any time.

I did not see the noble metals like Gold, silver Platinum, Rhodium.

Amazing! Thank you for finding this.

I think I will not plan to machine DU in my garage on my hobby mill. That little bit about fine swarf being so pyrophobic it can burn underwater managed to get my attention. (Having had a titanium swarf fire I sort of get the excitement of a small shop fire—scared the bejesus out of me).

And, not quite sure how to explain to my town dump about the can of DU swarf I would like to leave with them. They don’t even take old paint.

Maybe I’ll place my order with Oak Ridge for my desired DU part.