Name this Metal

[motoroilmccall]

Are my eyes that bad? I thought I had 20/20 vision... Looking at that picture all I see is a piece of tinwork, I can't tell the color well enough to draw a conclusion. Knowing where it came from is the only help we got. I'd say Aluminum, Stainless isn't cheap and its heavy, rail cars are weight conscious, not as much as an airplane, but they try to keep the weight down to be able to load more. Aluminum is the most plentiful metal on earth, and its been reasonably cheap for decades. Without putting my hands on it I couldn't tell you what it is, but knowing the application I'd say aluminum. Whiting Door is right around the corner from my shop. They make the roll up (garage style) doors for the back of semi's. They use 1" marine grade plywood with aluminum laminated to both sides, powder coated white on one side and natural on the other. While its not that thick, for flooring it definitely could be.

 

[peterc38]

Are my eyes that bad? I thought I had 20/20 vision... Looking at that picture all I see is a piece of tinwork, I can't tell the color well enough to draw a conclusion. Knowing where it came from is the only help we got. I'd say Aluminum, Stainless isn't cheap and its heavy, rail cars are weight conscious, not as much as an airplane, but they try to keep the weight down to be able to load more. Aluminum is the most plentiful metal on earth, and its been reasonably cheap for decades. Without putting my hands on it I couldn't tell you what it is, but knowing the application I'd say aluminum. Whiting Door is right around the corner from my shop. They make the roll up (garage style) doors for the back of semi's. They use 1" marine grade plywood with aluminum laminated to both sides, powder coated white on one side and natural on the other. While its not that thick, for flooring it definitely could be.

I don't know, it does not look like aluminum to me. The color is not at all right to be aluminum. Aluminum is white. Even aluminum that is older and oxidized is whitish. Also, aluminum is considerably softer and therefore has much lower abrasion resistance and would be a lot more scuffed I would think. If you have something that has sodium hydroxide in it i.e. lye or drain cleaner and you put a drop on it and it reacts it is most likely aluminum. If it does not react it is most likely stainless.

It is definitely not galvanized or an exotic metal like titanium or hastalloy as previously mentioned in other posts.

 

[Vincent]

Shop test

Hi
from the color i would say its Stainless better known as Inox Ansi # 316.

Is it heavy or is it light?

Is it elastic or can you bent it easy?

How does the file cut, is it hard or soft? Can it be cut with the pocketknife?

Is the surface corroded ?

Titanium is more dark gray.

Cheers Vincent

 

[timberwolf]

Titanium also has a lot of spring to it and a very granular surface.

There is plenty of info here to figure it out, just need to do some tests. just looking at it in a photo can only tell so much.

 

[ropensaddle]

Was the rail car used to haul radioactive waste?

 

[bama]

Was the rail car used to haul radioactive waste?

Was the railcar located around Roswell in the 40's? They never did find all the pieces of that ship.

 

[J_Ashley]

Wasn't being 100% percent serious, but oh well. Radioactive? Roswell? Perhaps unobtanium maybe??

 

[Stihl 041S]

Wasn't being 100% percent serious, but oh well. Radioactive? Roswell? Perhaps unobtanium maybe??

Or edging toward Baloneyium.

 

[ropensaddle]

Or edging toward Baloneyium.

Would that include the ring or not? :monkey:

 

[Stihl 041S]

Would that include the ring or not? :monkey:

That would not include the ring, just the knot.

 

[Nailsbeats]

I'm gonna say it's aluminum.

 

[ropensaddle]

That would not include the ring, just the knot.

In that case ummmmmmm hilbilly steak

 

[ropensaddle]

I had some weird metal one time out of an old coke box but it
was brittle and it's name was block tin not real common metal now.
Like the old Monel used in water heaters some compounds have outlived
their usefulness mainly cost associated. I also tore down an old cotton gin
and the power boxes three phase had nickel silver coils but before I could
have them smelted they were stolen over a hundred pounds
They had bulbs with pure platinum filaments once too!

 

[ckliff]

I dont know a darn thing about metallurgy, but I must say, this has been a darn good interesting & entertaining thread! I'm stuck indoors on a rainy day, and this has lifted my spirits. opcorn:

 

[ropensaddle]

I dont know a darn thing about metallurgy, but I must say, this has been a darn good interesting & entertaining thread! I'm stuck indoors on a rainy day, and this has lifted my spirits. opcorn:

Mine too, must be something in that baloneyuim

 

[Nailgunner]

A test for aluminium and its more common alloys is to see if it reacts nicely with caustic soda solution, "lye" for you over there It will fizz and release hydrogen, stainless steel won't.

My bet is some sort of common stainless steel. If you can heat a corner cherry red without it melting it's not aluminium, but could well be stainless.

 

[JohnL]

Looks like an aluminum alloy to me?

A lead alloy should feel "heavy" for it's size

If you wanted to measure it's density, that would narrow it down. Hard part is measuring it's volume accurately. You could cut a piece off that would fit into a graduated cylinder. See how much water it displaces. Then density = mass/volume, compare to known values for different metals.

Magnesium 1.74 g/cc (grams per cubic centimeter)

Aluminum 2.7 g/cc

Steel 7.8 g/cc

Lead 11.3 g/cc

 

[nitro]

metal

it has to be unobtainium . only nasa and a few nascar teams are even permitted to utilize alien technology

 

[funky sawman]

That is titanium for sureopcorn:

 

[Stihl 041S]

it has to be unobtainium . only nasa and a few nascar teams are even permitted to utilize alien technology

Run out of meds again?