Making magnesiumpowder with a coffeegrinder

[Pyrostar]

Hi all

A week ago I made some small magnesiumshavings ( 1mm).
Then my mother asked me wether I can use her old coffeegrinder for something.
I took the shavings and dump them inside the coffeegrinder and grind the shavings for 20 seconds in it.

The result was a very fine powder that is VERY good for flashpowder

It reminds me a bit after pigment aluminium powder, because the powder coated my finger grey-silver and it is indeed very fine ( say 250mesh).
I made a small test batch with KMnO4/Mg and that did selfconfine in the 0,1g state.
Neither does the grinder got hot nor does the magnesiumpowder ignite.
I usually let the grinder sit for 2 minutes to be absolutely sure that no ignition occurs when opening it.

What are you going to say about his method?


Pyrostar

[Matthijs]

I guess that if it doesn't get hot, this is a very nice method to make your magnesium powder. Is it an electrical coffeegrinder or one with a winch on it?

I got an electrical grinder, I use it for charcoal but I don't think it's able to grind magnesium. Maybe you can post an image of your coffeegrinder.

[mr.stijntje]

Could be me, but grinding Mg @ high rpm with a metal grinder sounds 'somewhat risky'...

[Blaf]

Sounds nice to me too....eventhough when Aluminium is to be ground, they suggest to do it with addition of some Stearine as to coat particles with protective layer and supress oxidation. Maybe this works for Magnesium too, never tried myself, though.

Blaf

[Keesthemad]

I think that is an excellent idea, as long as you don't add to much stearine the metal powder should still burn violently. It is just to lengthen storage time.

[Pyrostar]

Hi


But I cant upload my image here, I tried to add the attachment, but the forum-site always became white and nothing else,
so, sorry.

I will make more powder next time,


Pyrostar

[mr.stijntje]

That occurs when your file extention is not supported. Main problem: the extention is written in capitals. (JPG instead of jpg, many camera's do so)

If you have file extentions enabled in windows explorer, you can change it to jpg yourself. If you haven't, just open it in a picture editor and re-save as jpg. That should work.

[Pyrostar]

Hi

This is the magnesiumpowder:



Hope you like it.

Regards,



Pyrostar