Notes on low-melting point metals

Thursday, July 19 2007 @ 03:41 PM PDT

Contributed by Windell

A table of some possible metals that we might want to consider using with CandyFab. Points to consider: how hot do you have to get it? How much weight are we going to have to support? What's the thermal conductivity like? (Lower is better!) Is it a lead-antimony-cadmium supertoxic alloy, or can you use it on the CandyFab without a gas mask? If it's magnetic, perhaps we need to worry about it sticking to the nozzle, too. Let us know if you have any suggestions to add to this list, which is just getting started.

Name Composition Melting Point (F/C) Density (g/cm^3) Thermal Cond. (W/mK) Non-toxic? Non-Magnetic? Price $/lb Sources
Bismuth Bi 100% 520.7 F, 271.5 C 9.78 very low yes yes 3.50 "lead free" shotgun shot
Tin (not stable below 13 C!) Sn 100% 449.47 F, 231.93 C 7.3 66.8 yes yes ? "lead free" fishing weights
Solders Various Varies Varies Varies Varies Yes Varies Electronics supply houses

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