Different softness of mixed alloys

[Ohio Rusty]

WW's have a hardness of about 12, where pure lead has a softness of about 5 or 6 maybe ?? What is the hardness (or softness) of:
50/50 (WW's/Pure lead),
20 to 1,
and 30 to 1 alloys ??

Ohio Rusty ><>

[scottfire1957]

Did you look at the stickied alloy calculator?


ETA: without sarcasm, every question you've asked has already been calculated and answered in the lead alloy calculator. Just a little search of the website.

[Ohio Rusty]

So where is the stickied alloy calculator??? Never seen it on this website. I only look at 3 or 4 of the forums that interest me ...
Ohio Rusty ><>

[bangerjim]

Get the FREE alloy calculator on here.

All you questions will be self-answered!

Use the little white box in the upper right corner!!!! Good stuff.

I look at and read ALL the forums...............you are missing out on a big wide world if you don't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But you do have to check in every day ( not once a quarter) or the posts will be in the thousands. I log in at least 5x a day.

banger

[PBaholic]

WW's have a hardness of about 12, where pure lead has a softness of about 5 or 6 maybe ?? What is the hardness (or softness) of:
50/50 (WW's/Pure lead),
20 to 1,
and 30 to 1 alloys ??

Ohio Rusty ><>

174226

The 'Est BHN' (BHN = Brinell Harness) is using the RotoMetals formula, which isn't really good below BHN 10, and isn't right above 10% Sn. Hardness is not an exact science, as you are rarely dealing with pure metals. How you heat the metals, and how you cool them will effect hardness. Many of these values I have measured myself, and only have BHN accuracy to about +/- 0.5 BHN. The initial BHN's are typically 1 hour values, and the aged BHN's are typically 24 hours. The BHN continues to rise in many alloys as they age, and in some cases go up and down.

I have been trying to understand this better and reading much on the subject, but I still only have a limited understanding.

P.S. Every time you heat a lead based alloy, and get dross on the top, you are changing the BHN. This is because the Sn and Sb in the mix oxidize easily, and unless you are fluxing properly cause the BHN to drop.

[scottfire1957]

Click out ofthis thread, thenscroll up and look for "lead alloy calculator."

[runfiverun]

jeez it's have been easier to just type.
9
12
and 9

[Ironmike5585]

jeez it's have been easier to just type.
9
12
and 9

That's no fun lol .

[NyFirefighter357]

Just go here to download it.

castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29455&d=1297721111

[6622729]

WW's have a hardness of about 12, where pure lead has a softness of about 5 or 6 maybe ?? What is the hardness (or softness) of:
50/50 (WW's/Pure lead),
20 to 1,
and 30 to 1 alloys ??

Ohio Rusty ><>

Use the alloy calculator. It's amazing and will allow you to mix it up any way you want on paper and see the expected properties before you commit.

[Ken in Iowa]

Linkified. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?105952-Lead-alloy-calculators

Please remember that some members are not as tech savvy as others. Excel is like a foreign language to many people.

Thanks to to runfive for posting the simple answers.

[OS OK]

Ken posted, I think, the easiest and most informative lead calculator to use. All you do is plug in the actual weight of what you want to mix together and it will tell you all there is to know, all you need to know.
The calculator in itself describes contents of every mix of lead you can find to mix together...the footnotes explain facts behind the various contents, even why water dropping works, what is required and why.

This is an exact science, no matter how loosely we handle it...the bottom line is this..."How much effort are you willing to put forth?

[scottfire1957]

yes, it would have, but there's that whole "give a man a fish and he eats today, teach a man to fish and he can use the alloy calculator for future alloy questions."

[PBaholic]

yes, it would have, but there's that whole "give a man a fish and he eats today, teach a man to fish and he can use the alloy calculator for future alloy questions."

Here is the calculator:

For every 1% additional tin, Brinell hardness increases 0.29.
For every 1% additional antimony, Brinell hardness increases 0.92.

For a simple equation,

Brinell = 8.6 + ( 0.29 x Tin %) + ( 0.92 x Antimony % )

So for 95% lead, 5% tin, 5% Antimony alloy = 8.6 + (0.29 x 5) + (0.92 x 5) = 8.6 + 1.45 + 4.6 = 14.65

The Alloy Calculator has a few problems. It is starting with an initial value for lead at 8.6, so it is not reliable with high percentages of lead. If the BHN out of the calculator is under 10, it is most likely incorrect. It also has a problem when the Sn goes above 10%.

[scottfire1957]

Here is the calculator:

For every 1% additional tin, Brinell hardness increases 0.29.
For every 1% additional antimony, Brinell hardness increases 0.92.

For a simple equation,

Brinell = 8.6 + ( 0.29 x Tin %) + ( 0.92 x Antimony % )

So for 95% lead, 5% tin, 5% Antimony alloy = 8.6 + (0.29 x 5) + (0.92 x 5) = 8.6 + 1.45 + 4.6 = 14.65

The Alloy Calculator has a few problems. It is starting with an initial value for lead at 8.6, so it is not reliable with high percentages of lead. If the BHN out of the calculator is under 10, it is most likely incorrect. It also has a problem when the Sn goes above 10%.


There is a sticky for the calculator that works GREAT for 99% or more of the folks here. IF the OP was planning to use more than 10% SN, he would know MORE than needed to use the calculator, yes?

Edit: He is asking BASIC hardness questions, answered just by looking at, and not even using the stickied calculator.

[bangerjim]

Linkified. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?105952-Lead-alloy-calculators

Please remember that some members are not as tech savvy as others. Excel is like a foreign language to many people.

Thanks to to runfive for posting the simple answers.

Excel is one lf the simplest "plug-in" things to use. You do not need to know any math, any science, any metallurgy, and computer programming skills......really anything. All the hard work has already been done on the spreadsheet formulas and formatted in a clean and neat package you just click on and run inside Excel. Simple - - even for kids to use.

Now, if one totally refuses to spend any money on MS Excel.........that is a totally different story than "a foreign language" argument. There are free-bee things out there that will allow you to use Excel spreadsheets. Do a search. I even run the calc sheet on my iPads and iPhone!

And NO foreign language programming is required.

Eeeezy-peeezy.

banger

[Ken in Iowa]

Excel is one lf the simplest "plug-in" things to use. You do not need to know any math, any science, any metallurgy, and computer programming skills......really anything. All the hard work has already been done on the spreadsheet formulas and formatted in a clean and neat package you just click on and run inside Excel. Simple - - even for kids to use.

Now, if one totally refuses to spend any money on MS Excel.........that is a totally different story than "a foreign language" argument. There are free-bee things out there that will allow you to use Excel spreadsheets. Do a search. I even run the calc sheet on my iPads and iPhone!

And NO foreign language programming is required.

Eeeezy-peeezy.

banger

I beg to differ banger. There are plenty of people out there, senior and otherwise, that have no idea what you just wrote. My father and best friends among them.



I spent 20 years in IT Help Desk and related work. I best stop keying now.