Help my husband wants to put unknown powder metals in glass
 

My husband brought home a bag of platinum dust, and other unknown metals from a man that looks for treasure in the ocean. he wants to put this unknown stuff in glass and play!!! I would rather he not and have us all gone out of this house before he does it, which he will. Why why why, he does not even work with glass and has no qualms about safety at all! any suggestions you safety glass people out there????? need ya!
steph

Here's the MSDS on platinum powder: http://www.sciencelab.com/xMSDS-Plat...Powder-9926594

Dunno how helpful that is. It looks more hazardous than silver. That said, with excellent ventilation and a respirator it would probably be fine. I'm way more sketched out by "unknown metals"... eeek!

Here is another site...http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/pt.htm
"platinum will not oxidize in air no matter how strongly it is heated."

"It has a coefficient of expansion almost equal to that of soda-lime-silica glass, and is therefore used to make sealed electrodes in glass systems. Hydrogen and oxygen gas mixtures explode in the presence of platinum wire."

As Kalera said I would be more worried about the "unknown metals" It sounds as if it may be interesting to try in beads?

If you're sure you can't stop him, I agree with Kalera - good respirator to protect against particle dust and fumes and superb ventilation....hope you can get him to agree to do at least that!

Linda

Thanks to the responses. He has decided he does not know what is in this powder and i just think it is stupid to melt stuff that you know nothing about when there is such an abundance of things to melt in my studio, lol~! I am not into the experimental stuff, especially if they end up being combustible materials!!!
thanks again,
steph

I would suggest that your bigger worry should be the potentially toxic fumes created by these unknowns. With a torch flame you are going to vaporize a certain amount of the material - the particles in powders will melt and vaporize easily. You'd need exceptional ventilation before even considering doing this sort of thing.

Robert

I'd say let him. After he's made a flame proof fume box to work the stuff in :D If nothing else you get a space to work enamels in LOL

aluminum powder will explode btw



:hide: its not pretty

Yes, no kidding he has given up!! told him that when he learns about glass and safety and everything else, not to mention what he is trying to burn he can do it, until then it is off limits or at least completely away from me, the girls and the dogs!! He decided it was not worth it! I think he forgot now and he told me that he was not going to play with it since i told him that some of that stuff i read on the list from above is combustible. thanks again!
steph

I dunno...there's a certain beauty in watching thermite burn

if what hes got is really platinum dust. He should be looking to sell it being platinum is worth more then gold. As of right now a troy oz of platinum is going for $1,327

Off hand I can't think of any thing dangerous from playing with platinum dust. Except for making it worthless. or possibly breathing the dust.
BUt chances are its not pure pltnium and has other stuff in it. (its usealy not found in its pure state as a metal)

But if it is pure metal. You can heat that all day in till the cows come home and your not going to get it hot enought to vaporize it. well alone melt it to easily.

This thread cracks me up....everyone pretty much saying "oh, sounds scary...but...here's what you need to do it safely/safer" :lol:
(And Robert, always the voice of Wisdom & Sanity ;))

Strange, I'm feeling envious. If you've done much fuming, and many of us have, you've already decorated a room in Pandora's Box and moved in. And many have experimented with anything that even looks possible as an inclusion in their glass. With a proper ventilation system in place, and no hot glass work should happen without it, I'm not getting the potential horror here. Rock on, you curious scientist types. It's only pushing the envelope.