Cydrome Leader wrote:
D Murphy wrote:
Cydrome Leader wrote in
:

Does anybody have and experience welding zirconium wire? I'd like to
join two pieces that are about 1/32" in diameter. I'll be using an
oxyacetylene torch.

Is this stuff going to catch on fire like magnesium or do something
else interesting?

It will burn your house down. Zirconium is like Tiatanium and Magnesium, it
burns very hot and very bright. I thought Zirconium was controlled by the
NRC or somesuch. I've machined rod ends for nuclear fuel rods out of the
stuff. I might be wrong about it being a controlled metal, but I know for
sure that it burns. I wouldn't breathe the fumes of it burning either, IIRC
they're not good for you either, they damage the lungs or are poisonous.
Sorry I can't remember all the details it was quite some time ago. But
again DO NOT put an O/A torch to the wire, at least not inside


All the MSDS sheets I come across says the stuff burns when in powder.
Nothing is mentioned of the wire form though. I don't plan on working with
it inside. I'll test a piece and see what happens.

I took a MAPP torch to a piece of it. It mostly just got really hot and
cooled down and became brittle and useless. One piece did seem to burn-
it wasn't like a magnesium fire but it just stayed white hot and never broke
apart or started to bead after I took it off the flame. The section that
seemed to be burning had a white coating that wiped off.

So the main issue now is how to keep the wire from becoming brittle after
being heated up.