Dental x-ray foil - any zinc?

[vincewarde]

I have about 16-20 lbs. of dental x-ray foil saved by my wife (dental assistant). I have smelted it into ingots. I did not note any problems when smelting.

This stuff is definitely not pure lead. It's a lot harder. I don't have a tester, but I did a quick and dirty test by compressing a nut between the x-ray foil ingot and some known alloy ingots. It appears to be a lot harder than WW and a lot softer than Linotype. I'm guessing it's about BHN 16. Yes, I know it's a guess - but it is definitely hard stuff.

As a new caster, I am a bit concerned that there could be zinc in this stuff. What do you folks think?

Thanks!

[Shuz]

I have about 16-20 lbs. of dental x-ray foil saved by my wife (dental assistant). I have smelted it into ingots. I did not note any problems when smelting.

This stuff is definitely not pure lead. It's a lot harder. I don't have a tester, but I did a quick and dirty test by compressing a nut between the x-ray foil ingot and some known alloy ingots. It appears to be a lot harder than WW and a lot softer than Linotype. I'm guessing it's about BHN 16. Yes, I know it's a guess - but it is definitely hard stuff.

As a new caster, I am a bit concerned that there could be zinc in this stuff. What do you folks think?

Thanks!

I've used lots of dental film backers and never had a problem with them. I asked my dental office what brand of film they used and was told Kodak. I contacted Kodak and they told me the composition was 99% lead and 1% tin. My hardness tester kinda "confirms" this to be true as the boolits cast from this alloy are around Saeco 5-6. I suggest you have your wife determine what brand film they use and go from there as I did. Perhaps different mfr's use different alloys for their backers?!

[bobthenailer]

i just got 12 lbs of x ray foil from a friend , ive never used any before , i thought it was lead ? i might make a bullet and test the hardness with my lbt hardness tester

[Chuck 100 yd]

Years ago I bought about 30# of that stuff cheep. It melted nice and cast very nice although it had a frosted look to it when the melt was not that hot and a bullet set on the anvil and smacked with a hammer shattered like glass. Never did shoot any of it as I think it was just too hard for my needs.

[randyrat]

I have a bunch of those sheets(aprox 1 1/2" X 2") and mine seem as though they are 1-2% Tin slight amount of Antimony and lead.
They make perfect bullets, fillout is perfect at a low temp, as long as the mold is up to temp.
Mine seem to have a good amount of Tin, there is no surface tension, just as if i added 1%- 2% Tin to a pure lead batch.

[zomby woof]

I used to work for Kodak Dental X-Ray. I e-mailed some friends a while back for their alloy composition.

I just got this from Kodak Dental X-ray. The lead they use is Lead >96%, Tin 1.5% +/- 0.1%, Antimony 1.5% +/- 0.1%.

There are other suppliers of Dental X-Ray packets, who knows what they use. Kodak is the largest supplier (now Carestream).

[vincewarde]

Since my first post I have made up a batch of Lyman #2. I did the crush test comparison with the Lyman #2 and the dental lead - and they seem to be the same as far as hardness is concerned. I have no idea what was in the stuff, but I will proceed as though it's BHN 15 or so.


Thanks everybody!

[John Boy]

Woof, good information about Kodak ... Thanks
Using alot of XRay foils from several dentists, I've found the majority of the stuff is Bhn 8.7 (1:30 range) and did get some that was Bhn 9.8 (1:20 range)