What's the name of this (metal?) alloy?
This is usually found in really cheap products and looks and sounds metallic (rings a bit when dropped) , but I'm not sure if it is one.
The pictured cross section shows the greyish metal (the gold is just paint).
The cross section feels coarse and has tiny glittering specks. It also looks a bit porous (tiny air bubbles seem to be present in this alloy)
It's also pretty weak - a pencil like object made from this stuff can easily be snapped in two with your bare hands.
Thanks!
13 replies
Wow, you nailed it. Haven't heard that word in quite some time.
I think that's probably what it is
I doubt it's the official name, but I've always heard it referred to as "chinesium". It's usually slag or sand, with as little metal as possible to keep it together
Thaitanium
From the look of it, there is for sure zinc, aluminium and maybe magnesium in it.
Phew, thanks. I guess this is generally classified as pot metal as the other commenter posted
It could be some kind of sintered ceramic, which would explain its brittleness.
What object did this part come from?
It's from a cheap curtain rod end cap.
I'm not sure if it's a ceramic, wouldn't that break if dropped from shoulder height?
The end cap is definitely tougher than that but still a lot more brittle than other common metals.
There are many types of ceramic with different properties, but typically they're pretty brittle. Tungsten carbide is a ceramic used in saw blade and lathe tool tips because of how strong it is, but it is weak to impacts, so they usually don't make large objects out of it.
I’m guessing there’s a lot of aluminum in there
And just a hint of "less than 1% of" on about 20 more things lol
lead, arsenic, mercury…
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