out of curiosity what would happen if you melted simple solder ( 60% tin 40% lead ) at 621 degrees fahrenheit then held the temperature stedy at 600 degrees while agitating the liquid. would the two metals seperate or no also are there any non chemical methods of seperating alloys at all, i would assume if there are they would require too much energy to be practical
I seem interested in the question because of my interest in analog electronics. I'll give a guess without being able to support it, which is that they won't separate.
621 °F ≳ 325 °C ≈ just about the melting point of lead, not solder. 600 °F ≈ 315 °C Near 40% Pb 60% Sn (by weight), you have a perfect liquid solution (no separation) down to about 200 °C ≈ 400 °F. If the ratio of lead to tin is perfectly eutectic (61.9 Sn), at 183 °C it freezes into a mixture of 19.2 Sn and 97.5 Sn domains. https://www.princeton.edu/~maelabs/hpt/materials/mater_37.htm
The Tin may separate in a layer above the lead at the top as Tins melting point is below Leads while Lead is more dense. Tins melting point = 177.3 C/351.1 F and its density = 7.31 g/cm^3 Leads melting point = 327.5 C/621.5 F and its density = 11.34 g/cm^3 40/60 Tin lead solder melts at 188 C/370 F
so if you cant seperate n alloy by messing with the melting points than is it even possible without bringing it to boiling point at 1750 C and using a distilation method
Sane people would use a chemical process. Sane people would first learn how dangerous it is to work with lead vapor, lead compounds and nitric acid. http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=2277 http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=45086.0
You can use an electrochemical process to purify it. Either dissolve the alloy with acid to create an electrolyte or use the metal as an anode.
to be clear i have no intention of making lead vapor, i give up if it comes to that. i was merely hoping there was a mechanical answer to separating an alloy. i have this twisted dream of creating a factory with no bi-product besides profit and oxygen, of which will not go into detail unless requested. part of the plan is to bring in trash biomass and recycled materials to be processed for use. if i could separate metal alloys their functions would increase within the design but it is not required. as far as chemical separation goes that comes at the cost of the caustic chemicals, acids and what not to the job. time efficient but leaves bi-product
