92%Pb 3%Sb and 3%Si

[MiHec]

I found a loooot of lead wire.
Think is I'm a bit confused.
Hardnes is aprox. 14Brinell (measured with Lee tester).

What I'm confused about is 3% Si in alloy.

92%Pb
3%Sb
3%Si
and some other stuff I'm not worried about.

I looked on internet, but I did not found anything useful.

Is this O.K. to remelt and cast?

[cbrick]

Silicon?

Interesting to say the least. Curious how well Silicon would/could blend with lead and or at what temp?

Cast some and see what happens. Curious monds want to know?

Also, what was the original purpose of such a blend?

Rick

[MiHec]

I'm asking because I only got a 1m sample.
Hard to cast some boolits with this.

I will try to get some more and cast with it.
I do not know the purpose of such lead alloy :???:

[Grandpas50AE]

I would be leary of the silicon in the mix; if it oxidizes then you have silicon oxide, which I think is an abrasive but not as bad as aluminum oxide. You might want to look into that before shooting any boolits made with that alloy.

[375RUGER]

This is the first I've heard of Si being added to a Pb solder. Generally you can find it as 98Ag-2Si. This is used for some soldering of microchip dies where the silicon can have desireable adhesion and fluidity properties.
Silicon is used in mig welding wire to increase the fluiditiy of the weld pool, maybe it has the same affect in your lead wire.
Si used with metals can be your friend or your enemy.

[lwknight]

The silicone in the alloy is to make a self fluxing solder/brazing. I have no idea how it works but I use an alloy of silicone and silver for sweating copper tubing on A/C lines. Its self fluxing and works without pre-cleaning the surface.
The silicone seems to float out so it might not affect casting at all.

[popper]

It is used, it works, as solder and the other stuff is important for it's intended purpose. I have no idea how good the CBs will be.

[MBTcustom]

I think you guys would be surprized what is in lead alloy. We just think of it as having Tin, Antimony, Arsenic, copper, and maybe (God forbid) zinc.
Did you know that linotype has significant percentages of tungsten? I have run across silicone quite a few times when testing alloys (albeit not in these percentages).
As an alloy, lead is an absolute ***** for all types of metals. I have found half the periodic table in WW alloy. It just absorbs everything.
The point is, shoot it and see how it does. We run all kinds of junk through our barrels all the time, totally secure in our belief that our alloy has only three metals in it, and it works great, even though we are totally oblivious to the truth, so go see how it shoots! That is the only real test of boolit metal.

[bumpo628]

Typo maybe? Sn?
Jerry

It could be just that.
How do you know the percentages of the ingredients?

[MiHec]

NOT A TYPO!!!!!

My friend have a scrap range. One of his tools is
http://www.directindustry.com/prod/bruker/hand-held-xrf-alloy-analyzers-60556-395504.html
(not exactly like that, but you got an idea)

[MBTcustom]

just curios, did you have it measured in a fresh, clean area? I got high silicone readings from some of my samples when I used sand-paper to clean the test surface.
Now I use a new file that has been cleaned with acetone so as not to contaminate the surface. Those guns read what is on the surface of the metal, nothing deeper than a few millionths of an inch, so any surface contamination is going to throw your results!

[MiHec]

Hmmmmmm......

I will do another test tomorrow.

[MiHec]

It may be one of the Si-rich babbits then. China imports some with Si as ingots and in extruded form.
Was there copper as well?

Jerry

Yes, but veeeery small %

[Alan in Vermont]

OK, is it silicon or silicone? The words are being used interchangeably, and they should not be.

[MiHec]

OK, is it silicon or silicone? The words are being used interchangeably, and they should not be.

http://www.chemicalelements.com/elements/si.html

[Springfield]

Silicon is for making microchips, silicone is for caulking your bathtub.

[MBTcustom]

Maybe it came from lead pipes under a bathtub. That would explain the silicone.[smilie=l:
Seriously, if it weren't for spell check, you couldn't read anything I ever wrote.

[John in WI]

What was the wire used for originally?

The reason I ask is at my lab, sometimes I have to "weld" fine gold wires on to very thin gold pads. The problem is, it's virtually impossible to weld gold to gold. So instead they add a few percent Silicon (and sometimes some berrilium) and actually use ultra-sound instead of heat to do the welding.

I've never done it, but we do have a spool of 0.05mm Cu/Si wires sitting next to the wire bonder.

[MiHec]

Report back......

I remelted some and measure the hardness. It is only 8 BHN now.
I will pass on this lead wire.

[cody9999]

I was just reading up on solder and brazing and the article states that some solders have si added to help them flow.