What temp does aluminium melt ?

[ericpicc]

:eek: It's just hit 46.9 deg/celsius here and the poor defender is sitting outside in it.
Hope the poor thing does not melt away:(
Ourselves we are locked up inside and trying to keep cool, not bad at this point keeping the house dark and have the fans on and have both extractors in the bathrooms going.
And I thought it was going to be NSW that was going to be the hottest in the world today not us here in hoppers, west suburb of Melbourne.:eek:
All I know is none of us have been outside as yet, not game to open the door as there is a wind gust of 76 klm/hour.
Ice cream all round later on I think.

[Disco_owner]

Shivers , speaking of Ice-Cream , I bought me some icecream from woolies and left it inside the Glovebox of the disco:p

[ericpicc]

:D How rude!!!!!!
Ice cream left out in the Disco like that:(
Just stepped outside and nearly melted away myself, it's been a long, long, time since I've felt heat like this.
I take my hat off to all those wonderful firefighter's out there fighting those fires.
If I could I'd buy them all a beer after today.

[Michael2]

660.25 Degrees celsius according to wikipedia. I'm not sure whether Brimabright Magnesium / Aluminium alloy has a higher or lower melting temp than that, but I do know that you should avoid exocet missiles (for those old enough to remember the Falklands and the Brimabright ship).

weather radar shows some rain, but a glance out the window shows that it's actually a dust storm.

The doppler wind radar is out of action currently.


EDIT
image removed

I've now removed the BOM Image, as the link kept updating and so became irrelevant.

[JDNSW]

it is only 41C here, 31C inside (house is well insulated) - Dubbo is actually only 39C. But step outside and it is pretty warm, none the less.

John

[Slunnie]

34 inside and outside in Orange.

[V8Ian]

:eek: It's just hit 46.9 deg/celsius here and the poor defender is sitting outside in it.
Hope the poor thing does not melt away:(
Ourselves we are locked up inside and trying to keep cool, not bad at this point keeping the house dark and have the fans on and have both extractors in the bathrooms going.
And I thought it was going to be NSW that was going to be the hottest in the world today not us here in hoppers, west suburb of Melbourne.:eek:
All I know is none of us have been outside as yet, not game to open the door as there is a wind gust of 76 klm/hour.
Ice cream all round later on I think.

Better start going to Church or it'll be hotter when you die :firedevil::firedevil::firedevil:

[Bundalene]

On our back verandah it's currently 41 and the hot winds are making it very uncomfortable outside. Air con is working overtime trying to keep the house cool. There's a distinct smell of smoke around, from the fires around the Central Coast, I think.

Erich is out in the shed removing a gearbox:eek: I'm sure he's rather be doing something else in this heat.

Hope our wonderful fire fighters keep safe.


Mrs. B

[aew849]

Yup the world wide web says 660 odd Deg C to melt pure aluminium....and then whatever is mixed in for an alloy may alter that.

I melted out a small ally billy on the electric cooktop when I was a kid, so that must have been a seriously poor quality version.

The Falklands warship that 'melted' was the Type 21 frigate HMS Ardent, which was hit with multiple 500lb bombs dropped by A4 Skyhawks. She lost 22crewmen in the action. She had a steel hull but ally superstructure in order to reduce weight, especially top weight. The fires generated by the bomb attacks were hot enough to distort and melt the metalwork.

Having been in the RN from 1989 onwards, there were many first hand stories and subsequent improvements to dealing with battle damage and fire fighting. The growth of warship design through the missile age had increased the use of plastics and rubber for electric and sound insulation, and better facilities for the crew had brought greater use of foam and plastics for bunks, recreation areas etc. All this stuff burns very rapidly and can be difficult to contain. Plus they also produce highly poisonous gases which knocks out your fire teams unless they have breathing apparatus available.

Cheers,

aew849
04 130 DCPU

[George130]

35 in the house here.

I have a big sheet under the Fender so i can catch it as it melts. might put it in the pool for the rest of the weekend.

[V8Ian]

London had 8" of snow overnight! First time in many years due to polloution :twisted:

[bussy1963]

Here in the northern sub's we have recorded 46.7 at 1630 with a nw wind gusting 45 - 50 km/h.

im simply terms its bloody hot and windy.
.
We are currently getting a lot of smoke coverage at upper levels from kilmore east fires. Wind is starting to shift wnw currently very gusty.

Would hate to be chasing a fire today. 3 rail lines cut from fires

[vnx205]

It's 28 C inside the house at the moment.

One of the advantage of the location of my place in glorious Tuross Head is that winds from the N or NW have to blow all the way across Coila lake before they reach me. So even the hot NW winds are not as hot here as in Moruya.

It's a bit like being in front of an evaporative air cooler.

[mns488]

the change is here, it is 33.5 in the CBD. quite a drop with a gust of wind.

[vnx205]

I believe aluminium, aluminum and alumium melt just above the temperature at which softwood like poplar chars.

Years ago when I had some welding done on the side cover of the engine of my 125 Maico, it was critical that it didn't distort because with a rotary intake valve, that cover needed to be airtight as it covered the carburettor.

The welder warmed up the whole cover with the oxy and then began to stroke it with used match. He explained about the relationship between the charring and melting temperatures.

He started the actual welding as soon as the match started to char.

It seems he knew what he was doing. It was a perfect job and the cover remained airtight.

[whitakerb]

YOU POOR GUYS! I HAD TO TURN THE HEATER ON THIS MORNING ON THE WAY TO WORK HE HE :D
As a matter of fact I work for an aluminium extrusion company. We dont exactly melt the aluminium but heat it to about 500 degrees and push it through a small hole with a 2000 tonne press, much like the play doh fun factory. In a nut shell that's how your ally window frames on your house are made

[leeds]

YOU POOR GUYS! I HAD TO TURN THE HEATER ON THIS MORNING ON THE WAY TO WORK HE HE :D
As a matter of fact I work for an aluminium extrusion company. We dont exactly melt the aluminium but heat it to about 500 degrees and push it through a small hole with a 2000 tonne press, much like the play doh fun factory. In a nut shell that's how your ally window frames on your house are made

Am sat up in bed with the central heating going looking out at snow covered hills. No chance of taking Barbara's Smart car out here, many people have resorted todriving their old Land Rovers rather then their 2 WD cars. :o


Pure aluminium (99.9999%) has an extremely sharp melting point range and is one of the materials used for calibrating thermal instruments such as DSC etc. Price of this grade of Ali is expensive, start takling hundreds of £ for a few grammes! Start adding impurities to it and the melting point broadens. Commercial grade aluminium would have a broad melting. Ali window frames not used here as they are too much of a heat sink!

Extrusion and or die drawing is a method of both changing the shape of a material and it's physical properties. Guess who used to work on the die drawing of polymers ! :D Guess who still does? :wasntme:


Regards

Brendan


PS keep safe in that hot weather as we try to keep safe in our cold weather

[V8Ian]

Poor North Queensland is flooding, groceries being airlifted into Cairns by Jumbo. Ingham experiencing worst flooding in 40 odd years; Burdekin about to break it's banks. Glad I'm in the office these days, instead of the cab!

[George130]

the change is here, it is 33.5 in the CBD. quite a drop with a gust of wind.

Lucky bunch.
Air is still very still out this way. Temps are still not droping.

[V8Ian]

Lucky bunch.
Air is still very still out this way. Temps are still not droping.

I think I'd rather be sweating in my lounge than swimming in it.

[Thommo]

Experiencing mid 40's around Adelaide I found myself at work in a bus being towed by wrecker back to the depot, the A/C gauge (could not run A/C due to motor failure) was reading 61 degrees C (you think a car gets hot sitting in the sun think about new type buses with all that glass and only the drivers window partially opens.) I don't know about aluminium but my melting temperature was found :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[Tombie]

Whyalla 47.8c and 2% humidity (damn dry) just after I woke up (1.30pm):o

House hasnt had a working air conditioner for over a week... Checked temperature in our extremely well insulated sandstone house and its 38c INSIDE :(

You would think I'd be skinnier than I am in those pics in the other thread!!!:p

Respite has come though, the wind gusts turned to come up the gulf, were dropping temp really fast.. But humidity is up.... 48% now...

[JDNSW]

Down to 34 here now. Just the very slightest stir of wind. I have opened the house up as the temperature outside is dropping below that inside. Going to be driven to bed shortly by the insects crawling through the gauze, will have to put all the lights out.

John

[CraigE]

660degc. Very impressive to watch alloy heads and other components made from aluminium or alloys melt and run down the road on burning cars.
Something to be aware of if attending a car fire as if it is liquid it wil melt straight through boots.

[Michael2]

660degc. Very impressive to watch alloy heads and other components made from aluminium or alloys melt and run down the road on burning cars.
Something to be aware of if attending a car fire as if it is liquid it wil melt straight through boots.

I attended to a head on of a Land Cruiser towing a caravan Vs road train once. The caravan was just a pool of melted aluminium on the road. I'm guessing the cooking gas contributed to that.

[CraigE]

I attended to a head on of a Land Cruiser towing a caravan Vs road train once. The caravan was just a pool of melted aluminium on the road. I'm guessing the cooking gas contributed to that.
Does not take anywhere near the heat to melt a caravan as it does a car as it is ultra thin aluminium (still would have to be near the melting point), but does not have to sustain the heat for long.
I have a large piece of melted and cooled aluminium on my desk at work from a car fire a few weeks ago. This piece appears to be from brake calipers ? as there was one near each wheel and a big blob under the motor.

[vnx205]

I'm not sure what sort of alloy is used in mag wheels, but in the Canberra fires a few years ago, the house behind my brother's place burnt and tried to take his place with it.

The car in the garage next door burnt and reduced the mag wheels to a very artistic blob of metal. In fact I think my brother has it hanging on his wall because it looks so interesting.

That was a very hot fire though.

[V8Ian]

So what about metal, as most other cars are made from
Important point ATM I think to know if it is going to be safer NOT in a Land Rover in a bushfire :(

Interesting historical point...in the 1666 Great Fire of London

No-one was reported injured in a Land Rover :wasntme:

[Bigbjorn]

Does not take anywhere near the heat to melt a caravan as it does a car as it is ultra thin aluminium (still would have to be near the melting point), but does not have to sustain the heat for long.
I have a large piece of melted and cooled aluminium on my desk at work from a car fire a few weeks ago. This piece appears to be from brake calipers ? as there was one near each wheel and a big blob under the motor.

Caravans are brittle. I have seen two that engaged in body contact sport with line-haul semi trailers. They just disintegrate into a cloud of plastic, chipboard, corn flakes, clothing, tinned food, nappies, etc. Another one had the right hand side pulled out in one piece when a flapping caravan window snagged in the gates of an overtaking semi-trailer between Cobar and Wilcannia. This goose was doing the usual caravan terrorist trick of not keeping to the left, driving at 80 k's on the narrow bitumen with his right hand side over the centre line. The following truck waited somewhat impatiently judging by the remembered dialogue over the CB. Along the lines of " As soon as this ***** uncovers the white line I'm going and he will just bloody well have to stay over where he should be until I get past." Followed by " Jesus bloody Christ" You've got him. ****, you wont believe this." from a following truck.

[Slunnie]

Caravans are brittle. I have seen two that engaged in body contact sport with line-haul semi trailers. They just disintegrate into a cloud of plastic, chipboard, corn flakes, clothing, tinned food, nappies, etc. Another one had the right hand side pulled out in one piece when a flapping caravan window snagged in the gates of an overtaking semi-trailer between Cobar and Wilcannia. This goose was doing the usual caravan terrorist trick of not keeping to the left, driving at 80 k's on the narrow bitumen with his right hand side over the centre line. The following truck waited somewhat impatiently judging by the remembered dialogue over the CB. Along the lines of " As soon as this ***** uncovers the white line I'm going and he will just bloody well have to stay over where he should be until I get past." Followed by " Jesus bloody Christ" You've got him. ****, you wont believe this." from a following truck..
I feel sorry for the truckies.

Obstructive drivers (in all manner of ways) really do my head in and I have next to no sympathy for them.