Hi everyone,

A few years ago I tried to melt aluminium using an old steel fire extinguisher as crucible. This was done in a homemade foundry using coke as fuel.

Me having no patience, I tried getting the temperature up as fast as possible and a hole was melted in the crucible, producing a very bright light.

Could the molten aluminum have reacted with the rusty steel fire extinguisher to produce thermite?

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[–] 9 points 1 month ago

It's no enough for aluminum to be in contact with iron, they must be powdered and mixed. Also you need extreme temperatures to start the reaction.

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