Thermite

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Quick explanation of thermite:

A mixture of iron oxide Fe2O3 (rust) and aluminum powder. When it is ignited the aluminum powder reacts with the O3 part of the rust in a highly exothermic reaction, the resulting product is molten iron.

Thermite is commonly used in welding, because the molten iron has the ability to seep into cracks in metal. It cal also be used to melt through things as shown in an episode of Brainiac and the movie The Sixth Day.

I have made thermite a few times, but never in large enough batches to burn through anything significant. Aluminum powder is hard to come by and I never had a good enough reason to use what little powder I had.

Step 1: Materials

All materials can be found here http://unitednuclear.com/chem.htm or on E-bay. You can either buy and mix the chemicals yourself or buy premade thermite from unitednuclear.

1. Iron oxide
2. Aluminum powder
3. Magnesium ribbon or thermite ignition mixture

For a more exotic mix you may also want to buy:

4. Barium Nitrate
5. Sulfur
6. Dextrin

Comments

[Pyro7]

This stuff burns briiiight, real bright. You can feel the heat from a pretty good distance to. I know Hans Gold sells the thermite kit you can buy online at www.wheretogetthermite.com

Havoc you cant use the aluminum filling, a dark jagged flake works best, 3 micron or smaller. Fillings will not have the cache, and spread speed it takes to truly get the full effect. Trust me on this, I use thermite quite a bit for work.

[jpoopdog]

you need fine powder to get it started, but oits possible to have 75% of the aluminium as shredded foil or small fillings.

[tesla man]

Do you know what the ratio by volume is?

[jpoopdog]

ratio by volume will depend on the density of the iron oxide and the aluminium powder. forr instance, fluffy concrete colouring grade iron oxide might take up 1L/kg (hypothetically) while natural crystaline rust of identical composition and chemical structure, might take up 0.2L/kg
compress that fluffy oxide and magically it is the same amount taking up half the space. same goes for the aluminium. By volume it is impossible to accurately get the ratios correct. My advice is get a rough weight value of a certain volume of your oxide and aluminium, e.g find out how much 500ml wieghs of both, then youll know how many g/mL it is, therefor giving you a crude but still accurate enough ratio of which to mix your thermite from. A bathroom scale might provide you with this weight if it increments in 100g or so

Alternatively go buy a pocket scale from ebay for $3, even the ones from china last for ages.

[Hav0c]

can you use aluminum filling instead of powder?

[Jarheadicus]

By "filling" if you mean "filings" than yes they are just a little bit bigger than dust but basically the same thing.

[Hav0c]

my mistake i did mean filings, thank you

[king_zilla]

How do you convert cups or tbsp. to percentages like that?

[GASSYPOOTS]

it doesnt matter put it i naa barrel and roll it

[snowluck2345]

you realy can't. The percents are by mass, so to convert cups or tbsp to them you would need to use the density of the different materials, but since the materials are powdered, that would be hard to determine..

[boudreau-inventor2]

I don't really know much about thermite. What is the difference between the military version and the regular version?

[Killa-X]

I've been trying to do a copper thermite mixture. I'm having issues with the fuse. I have magnesium ribbon. I took a pen tube, and filled 1cm with copper thermite. I put the fuse in, and put some hot glue around the top to make a seal. I went to ignite it, to find the magnesium ribbon has stopped 2mm above the glue.

Why is this? Its true i didnt sand the magnesium, but i dont think it would do that much difference...I dont thing it being cold/snow outside, would effect that either...Ideas?

[HungaryHungryHitler]

I've been working with thermite for a couple months now, but I've been having troubles with an inaccurate mechanical scale (needs a few pounds of weight to register 100 grams). Would anybody know about volume ratios that work well? I'm thinking about doing a 50/50 mix, which visually looks correct compared to what I've seen. I would prefer not to go scale shopping, and I'm not too picky about exact numbers.

[Jimmy Proton]

so much for safety first lol

[jackh94]

I've heard, that a similar displacement reaction to this can be achieved by using aluminium, (obviously german dark, more fun) and silicon dioxide (sand). Has anyone tried this? I don't if it would work.
If someone does try it to see though remember not to breath in the gas produced because I think it reacts with the water in your body and becomes a strong acid.

[Noel Pulleine]

Here is another source for 200 mesh aluminium powder.. but you will have to buy it from South Australia for $20.00 AUST per kilogram. It is supplied in any quantity as Aluminium Powder 500gm Grade: -75B,-200 mesh Very fine aluminium powder ($13.50) (for use with most casting resins. Commonly used in applications requiring higher thermal properties.. and Aluminium Powder 20kg for $250.00 AUST. Go to this website, http://www.amcsupplies.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9_169 Regards, Noel

[tinfoilgami]

u can get aluminun powder from etch a sketches

[chibiwind]

I've heard that you can get aluminium fillings from etch-a-sketches as well, but aluminium isn't magnetic and i thought that was how an etch-a-sketch worked

[octavian234]

You thought wrong

[chibiwind]

sorry to tell you but it does contain aluminium powder.

[octavian234]

I was talking about aluminum powder not being magnetic

[bloke2022]

is there something special about the aluminum powder, or could you just shave aluminum into a powder?

[chibiwind]

You can get aluminium powder from aliminium foil you can use a coffee grinder, a blender or if you have neither and a bit of patience you can use a cheese grater

[bloke2022]

i was wondering why if it was that easy did no one do it?

[micromuffin]

because aluminum foil has a plasticy coating on it which is undesirable.

[chibiwind]

me and my friend tried it, it would be easier to buy aluminium filings but we didn't have any and it turns out aluminium foil in a coffee grinder worked fine, and a few days ago i tried a cheese grater and it got the aluminium to the same size but took way longer. :)

[Demented]

Well getting any sort of fuse is literally impossible for me. Neither can I make my own. So just wondering... could I take apart my kettle and use that heating element instead? I don't suppose there is any sort of limit to that is there?

[guitarmonk15]

you could just short out a battery (attach one piece of wire to both contacts)

[jackh94]

 I've heard yo can get old crimbo lights, knock the glass off and stick in things to ignite them although It might not be hot enough, visco doesn't work but visco in a lump of flash powder on top of the thermite does

[chibiwind]

you can light Thermite with about 4-8 sparklers wrapped together then stick it in and light it.

[kingbirdy]

you would be covered in 3rd degree burns. You wouldn't have enough time to get away, and do you have any idea how hot thermite burns?

[chibiwind]

i don't know what sparklers you have, where I'm from they are about 20-30 cm they take about 30 seconds to get to the bottom and that is a good amount of time to run away

[kingbirdy]

sparklers make sparks, and when those sparks hit thermite, it burns.

P. S. here they take about 45 seconds to 1:15 here to burn.

[mastergabe]

but Thermite is int highly sensitive and would take more than a spark

[Kryptonite]

The sparks are not hot enough, and if they are they I consider the unlucky candidate the most unlucky candidate ever.

[jackh94]

 about 2000 degrees of the top of my head, but I forget things easily, all I know is it makes light work of an old sky box and the pot used to hold it together

[kingbirdy]

kind of a rhetorical question, but thanks anyway.

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

just roll paper up and douse it in lghter fluid, for most horrid of cases.

[loopycar27]

hey guys can you put just some shaved magnesium in it i mean how hot does it gotta be i just cant get magnesium ribbon or any of that i do have magnesium powder that can destroy a nickel when put over it and its sper easy to light, so could i use that for my thermite?

[spenfisher12]

i say try it might explode in youre face but we will all learn