Ingot hardness

[barnabus]

about 7 years ago i melted some indoor range scrap and WW into ingots .The WW and range scrap was done separately so no mixing happened. I had the ingots tested and they came out 17-18 bhn (WW) and 11-12bhn (range scrap)

Heres my question...both of these numbers seem very high by what i see on the web for the ranges of these type alloys. What in the world could be causing this higher values?

[Rickf1985]

How where they tested? Using what equipment to do the test? I agree the figures are high, especially the wheel weights. If it was a private range and the lead was from the pistol range then that could be a valid figure or very close. Best thing to do is get a Lee hardness tester and do a test yourself. The Lee testers can be a chore to use until you learn the tricks to seeing the little lines but they are quite accurate.

[barnabus]

How where they tested? Using what equipment to do the test? I agree the figures are high, especially the wheel weights. If it was a private range and the lead was from the pistol range then that could be a valid figure or very close. Best thing to do is get a Lee hardness tester and do a test yourself. The Lee testers can be a chore to use until you learn the tricks to seeing the little lines but they are quite accurate.

These ingots have been tested twice one with a Lee and another at a Metallurgy Plant by someone I know. the figures are correct

[Dusty Bannister]

Some believe that the rate of cooling has an affect on the ingots. That is why I use a large caliber flat nosed bullet mold to cast several samples specifically for hardness testing. If those were cast in the winter and poured into a cold ingot mold, that might influence the hardness reading later. Sample prep can also be an issue. Did you file the test surface flat and then take the reading? You have several years of oxide that might affect the result.

It is not unusual for ingots and bullets to not read the same hardness.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've seen videos of people dropping hot ingots into a bucket of water. Myself, when I make ingots, I cool the filled ingots molds on a soaking wet towel to cool them quickly. the ingots measure harder with my Lee tool. If you want to know the accurate boolit alloy hardness, you need to measure the boolit cast with your casting technique.

[fredj338]

The composition of ww & range scrap vary quite a bit but aged alloy, pretty close to what i get; 10-11 for outdoor range scrap & 15-16 for clip ww.

[fredj338]

I've seen videos of people dropping hot ingots into a bucket of water. Myself, when I make ingots, I cool the filled ingots molds on a soaking wet towel to cool them quickly. the ingots measure harder with my Lee tool. If you want to know the accurate boolit alloy hardness, you need to measure the boolit cast with your casting technique.

Why would anyone drop ingots into water? At most i have set the mold on a wet rag to cool faster but dropping into water, other than handling, adds nothing.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Why would anyone drop ingots into water? At most i have set the mold on a wet rag to cool faster but dropping into water, other than handling, adds nothing.

I don't know? Everyone has there reasoning for their process, I guess. I have seen a Utube of a person that does it, I thought it was totally unnecessary.
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Early on in my casting hobby experiences, I bought a bunch of stuff from a local guy that I knew from my sportsman club, who use to cast in the 80s - 90s, but hadn't cast much since. He is actually a member here, but hasn't been active for a long long time. Anyway, among the stuff I got from him, was two 5 gallon buckets of ingots. He said they were cast with COWW with a hardener added. I asked what the hardener was, he couldn't remember. Those ingots were cast from a Lee ingot mold, over filled so all four ingots stuck together, many were cracked , but not cracked with the ingot edge lines, but across all four ingots and was an arc shape. I asked why they were that way? He said it takes for ever for the ingots to solidify, so he would just drop them in a bucket of water.

[Rickf1985]

Plus it promote fast cooling which in turn promotes fast contraction and opening of voids which will suck in water as it cools. If that water gets into close voids it will never dry out and you WILL get a visit from the tinsel fairy when you remelt those ingots. And the tinsel fairy's ugly step sister! Since the ingot will be well submerged when the explosion happens.

[poppy42]

We’re did you here about water dropping opening up voids?