Gallium vs. aluminum

[Homer J Simpson]

random find  but pretty interesting

[digsys]

Mercury has a very similar effect on Aluminium as well, possibly even more dramatic. Back in high-school (when handling mercury was no big deal :-)),
we would rub it on all sorts of Al surfaces, and come back the next day to a powdery mess :-)  I also learned to love the cane ...

[coppercone2]

I always wanted to build a hydrogen generator that uses galium/aluminum alloy thats hydrated some how

[Gyro]

Mercury has a very similar effect on Aluminium as well, possibly even more dramatic. Back in high-school (when handling mercury was no big deal :-)),
we would rub it on all sorts of Al surfaces, and come back the next day to a powdery mess :-)  I also learned to love the cane ...

When I was a kid, I salvaged some mercury from a glass mercury switch. The only thing I had to hand to put it in was the Aluminium can from an old dismantled fluorescent lamp starter. I put it on the shelf in my bedroom overnight and was greatly surprised to wake up to a mass of fine, white Aluminium oxide 'pencil sharpenings' emerging from the top next morning!

I was really lucky the Mercury didn't eat its way through the thin Aluminium can overnight - it would have gone everywhere (carpet and all), and I doubt I would have had the courage to tell my parents. I'd have ended up living in mercury vapor hell.

[nfmax]

Some titanium alloys will resist Gallium perfectly OK, even at high temperatures. Stainless steels also have problems.

[1] D. G. Kolman, J. F. Bingert, and R. D. Field, ‘The microstructural, mechanical, and fracture properties of austenitic stainless steel alloyed with gallium’, Metall and Mat Trans A, vol. 35, no. 11, pp. 3445–3454, Nov. 2004.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11661-004-0181-x

[T3sl4co1l]

Only have one thing to say to that.



Tim