Almost all fine metal powders are potentially explosive in an enclosed container. If someone shakes them up and there is a static discharge, they can go up. We have had bronze alloy pigments flash into flame being poured from one container to another. I don't think I would be casual about the storage of metal powders. Granted, the combination of being suspended in air and some kind of source of heat or electricity has to all come together just right. But the potential is there.
Aluminum and magnesium are the most dangerous metals, but almost any metal can all go up with the right conditions.
Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
181 Thompson St., #23
New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Roberts <droberts**At_Symbol_Here**DEPAUW.EDU>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Thu, Jul 11, 2013 5:52 pm
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Devarda's Alloy
I have a bottle or two of this stuff as
well. Mine is granular, and looks amazingly similar to my
granular tin/aluminum/zinc or copper (it has a color to it - which
just means there is some copper in the mix). I assume it's not
much different than any of my granular metals, so I just store it
in a cabinet with them. It is not flammable, and really these
things are old enough that they aren't overly reactive. It surely
will not light unless you use a blow torch or something (and even
then I'm not sure how easily it goes). You probably have a 250g
bottle or so (maybe more, I don't know).
I store it with my metals - which is away from any acids. It will
react with nitric acid (I tried once - just to see), just as
copper does. In fact one of the things I have done with it is to
use in in a lab to determine the percent copper in the metal (by
reacting with nitric acid and then quantitating the "blueness" of
the solution with a spec of some sort).
Good luck
Dave
On 07/11/2013 02:20 PM, Ben Ruekberg wrote:
Here
is my best guess. I believe that Decarda's alloy is
composed of (mostly) aluminum, copper and zinc. Aluminum is
apt to be the most reactive (and definitely should be kept
away from caustics like sodium or potassium hydroxide and
should probably be kept away from acids and oxidizers as
well). I would suggest that the question is one of particle
size. If you are talking about an ingot, you are probably
pretty safe. If you are talking about a fine powder, it is
apt to be pyrophoric. My suggestion, again a guess, would
be to store it more or less as you would pure aluminum of
the same particle size and away from acids because of the
zinc. At least until someone more authoritative comes
along.
Thank
you,
Ben
Ruekberg
From:
DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On
Behalf Of Emily Coombs
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 1:03 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Devarda's Alloy
We
recently acquired some Dacarda's Alloy and are being
faced with whether or not it needs to be stored in a
flammables cabinet. We have not yet received an MSDS
from the Manufacturer, and even just the NFPA ratings
seem to vary incredibly. (Yes we are absolutely looking
at the rest of the MSDS, but this provides a quick
overview of how differently it is being presented in the
different sources.)
From
Sigma Aldrich (available from their site, but I am
unable to attach here):
NFPA
Rating
Health hazard: 0
Fire: 3
Reactivity Hazard: 3From
ScienceLab MSDS
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9923683
Health: 3
Flammability: 1
Reactivity: 1
Specific hazard
From
SIRI (not a source I would normally use, but is
specifically listing the brand we have)
http://siri.org/msds/mf/baker/baker/files/d0776.htm
Health Rating: 0 - None
Flammability Rating: 1 - Slight
Reactivity Rating: 1 - Slight
Contact Rating: 0 - None
Can anyone shed any light on this particular
materials' storage? It has caused some controversy
here, and we would appreciate another perspective.
Thank you!
Emily
Coombs
Chemical
Laboratory Manager
Simmons
College
(617)
521-2725