Ben Shelton on tue 8 aug 06
At my job I make drawings at a computer all day but the production side of
the business fabricates cut and bent rebar for concrete construction. They
regularly sweep up lots of steel scale that falls off the steel as they bend
and cut it. I am assuming that it is basically iron oxide but needs to be
processed into a powder to be usefull so I am building a ball mill for that
and some other experiments with various local materials.
I have read about "roasting" iron to help speed the oxidation and help in
the milling. Has anyone done this? I'd like to get some hard data on
"roasting" times and temps if anyone knows.
Before anyone tries to dissuade me, I know iron is cheap. I have 10 pounds
at the house. That is not why I am doing this. I'd like to use this material
to make some things for the people that work here. They would appreciate
that the scale they throw away went into the final product. They would think
it is cool.
Ben
Graeme Anderson on wed 9 aug 06
Hi Ben.
How fine do you want the powder to be?
I sometimes use steel wool in some of my glazes. I put bits of steel wool
in a pot during a bisc - to about 800C. It comes out nice and crumbly,
and gives a speckled glaze at stoneware. (There are a couple of pics on my
web site - Google gemopal.) Mid-fire, it just sits there like flyspecks.
I presume with a mortar and pestle you could get a fairly fine powder.
Maybe that would work for your material too.
Cheers. Graeme.
Ben Shelton on wed 9 aug 06
I'm looking for powder. I'll be using it in glazes and possible as a brushed
on accent over and underglaze so fine powder would be better. I have never
tested the stuff I buy but I assume it is 200 mesh and finer.
I'll try some in my next bisque and see how crubly it gets.
Ben
Graeme Anderson on thu 10 aug 06
Another thing you could try, Ben, would be to put some of the scale in a
glass jar and (carefully)pour in an acid, such as hydrochloric.
Definitely a job for outdoors if possible, and don't breathe any fumes.
Keep adding a bit more metal until the acid no longer dissolves it. You
can then use some of the liquid, which will be a super-saturated, super-
fine solution, in your glazes. If you don't use all the solution at once,
you'll need a plastic or glass lid for the jar.
Cheers. Graeme.
Ben Shelton on fri 11 aug 06
Good thought about the acid.
Does anyone know their chemistry well??
Could I then neutralize the acid and have the iron left behind as an oxide???
Maybe add the solution to water (or is it vice versa that is safer???)
Baking soda or lye solutions would counteract the acid but my chemistry
calculation skills are weak so I don't really know what I'd get.
What would be left? Iron metal or iron oxide? What particle size range would
this produce??
Thanks, Ben
pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on sat 12 aug 06
I think the scale could be dissolved in a quite
mildly Acidic Water...then, at liesure, the
Water-Fe02 concentration could be calcined or
evaporated and the powder Ball Milled or made to
be of fine mesh if need be...
Phil
el v
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Shelton"
To:
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 10:15 AM
Subject: Re: Steel mill scale as source for iron
oxide?
> Good thought about the acid.
>
> Does anyone know their chemistry well??
> Could I then neutralize the acid and have the
iron left behind as an oxide???
>
> Maybe add the solution to water (or is it vice
versa that is safer???)
>
> Baking soda or lye solutions would counteract
the acid but my chemistry
> calculation skills are weak so I don't really
know what I'd get.
>
> What would be left? Iron metal or iron oxide?
What particle size range would
> this produce??
>
> Thanks, Ben
Ivor and Olive Lewis on sat 12 aug 06
Dear Ben Shelton,
Going the Chemical way is expensive and if the Iron oxide is dissolved =
in an acid you will get an acidic salt. This has to be calcined to =
reclaim your iron oxide.
Why not use a Geologists "Dolly Pot", more or less a piece of 4 inch =
steel pipe about 12 inches deep welded to a piece of half inch plate.
Put a handful in and pound with the blunt end of a Crow Bar. Reduce your =
flake to minus 100 mesh in minutes and much safer. My local engineer =
made mine.
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis.
Redhill,
South Australia.
Graeme Anderson on sun 13 aug 06
I can't help much on the chemistry side, Ben. I just add some of the
solution to the glaze. One problem is that there is no way of knowing how
much iron you have added to the glaze.
I'd suggest doing a test tile. Mix up a small amount of the base glaze
you'll be using. Say 50 ml. Get a hypodermic syringe for the acid
solution. Add 2 ml of the solution to the glaze, stir in, and brush some
onto the test tile. Add a further 2 ml to the glaze, stir, brush more
onto the tile. Add another 2 ml, stir, brush on tile. And so on. At
least that will give you an idea of colour response, and how much solution
to add to the larger batch of glaze when you are making your pots. The
tile would only have to go through a bisc, to give you a rough idea of
colour response from various amounts in the glaze.
I don't know what you'd call the solution. When I've reduced copper wire
in nitric acid, after a period of time blue crystals settle out, looking
just like copper nitrate.
Anyway, do have fun with the experiments, and let us know what happens.
Cheers. Graeme.
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