Smelting silver at home is not such a simple procedure as it seems. The ultimate goal requires not only the availability of special skills and materials, but also certain knowledge in this area. The liquid metal is very hot; burns are possible with careless handling. With this in mind, the smelting of a precious substance should be carried out in special rooms or on street territories.
Physical plan options
When melting silver at home, it is necessary to take into account the moment that the metal in question is rapidly oxidized through interaction with hydrogen sulfide in the air. As a result, a dark coating appears on the surface.
Cutlery made of this material is no exception. When choosing a sample for melting, the following features should be considered:
- melting point is 961.9 degrees, boiling point - 2162 ° C;
- the ability of silver to reflect light and ductility during forging make it an excellent basis for the manufacture of jewelry;
- due to its high thermal conductivity, the material is used in various fields of the technical industry, including the creation of special microcircuits and clamps;
- the density of silver is 10 times that of water.
When trying to melt silver at home, you need to remember that the processing temperature directly depends on the metal sample. It is this characteristic that allows you to determine the content of the net base in percentage terms.
Interesting Facts
To engage in the melting of silver at home, you need to know that this metal in alloy No. 925 contains 92.5% pure silver and 7.55 different impurities. In this case, the operating temperature will be about +889 degrees Celsius.
If the bases are less than 90%, then melting is possible at a temperature of +770 degrees. The following silver samples are most often used in industrial and technical sectors: 960, 925, 916, 875, 800, 750. Marking 999 is extremely rare, since such silver is too soft.
DIY silver smelting
Initially, it is necessary to prepare the form, tools and related components. A smelting tank can be bought ready-made or made of refractory and non-combustible material. Ideally, you need these elements:
- metal plate;
- a spoon;
- sheet asbestos;
- burner;
- borax;
- forceps with forceps;
- quartz sand and gypsum form.
Smelting silver at home with a gas burner provides for the location of all materials at hand so as not to be distracted in the process of finding them. Eyes should be protected with special glasses, hands with gloves. If you decide to make the mold yourself, gypsum and quartz sand are used for these purposes. The model is made from beeswax, where the molten workpiece will be poured.
Work stages
Quartz sand is mixed with gypsum, after which the composition is placed in a prepared form. When cooling the material with your fingers, make a small cavity, where liquid silver will be poured directly. After the mold solidifies completely, it is thoroughly heated. This is necessary in order to give the template the desired configuration. In addition, you need to turn on the ventilation or open the window, because in the process there is a sharp and unpleasant aroma.
After the smell disappears, work on the melting of silver with a burner is carried out in stages:
- A sheet of asbestos is cut into four rectangular parts. The first element should be slightly larger than the spoon, the second should correspond to its size, two more should be smaller. The resulting parts are arranged in a spoon so that the largest sheet is at the bottom, and the smaller ones are at the top.
- The prepared crucible is treated with brown to prevent oxygen from entering the mixture. One part of the borax accounts for ten parts of metal. The composition melts over the burner until the additive dyes a dark green color with a thick consistency.
- After the main procedure, the silver alloy is placed in a crucible and calcined over the burner until it becomes completely liquid, by gravity falling on the bottom of the mold.
- A fully completed operation is considered if in fact there is a pure sheen of the finished silver. In the case of a hazy appearance, the procedure is repeated anew.
Smelting silver at home in the microwave
It is possible to process the metal in question in other ways. For example, melt it with a blowtorch. To do this, you need a crucible with a charge, which is placed in a chamotte clay pipe with a large diameter and an appropriate wall thickness.
A microwave oven is a very real option for melting silver. As an additional element, a stand made of asbestos or other refractory material is used. Often for these manipulations use factory or home-made melting furnaces. These units are best used in the garage or in the country, since the manipulation is associated with fire and unpleasant odors.
Recommendations
If it is necessary to give silver a specific shape, the molten mass should be quickly and accurately poured into a pre-prepared ingus. After signs of crystallization appear, silver is thrown into hot water along with the mold. This manipulation is necessary with the help of tongs, since the metal is still very hot. In the liquid space, the form should separate from the contents. If this does not happen, the residues are removed on their own.
It is worth noting that particles of other metals can be found in silver scrap. Before the process of melting silver at home, it is necessary to check this and remove them with a magnet. This operation significantly reduces the working period, while improving the quality of the finished product. In addition, uniform heating of the metal with its expected transition to a liquid state is guaranteed.
Total
Smelting silver on its own is not as complicated as it seems. In the presence of asbestos elements, an ordinary burner (microwave) and a spoon there will not be any special problems. Since the process is accompanied by a high temperature and an unpleasant odor appears, it is advisable to conduct melting away from mass crowds.