Interesting keris making video

Pusaka · 31st July 2014, 02:19 PM

Im thinking of how sometimes the metal with the lower melting point actually acts as a solvent to melt the metal with a higher melting point.
Brass has a melting point of 930C whilst Nickel melts at 1453C yet if you add nickel to a pot of molten brass the brass will dissolve the nickel and you end up with nickel brass.

Same for mercury and gold, mercury will dissolve gold and the two will form an amalgam.

I'm also thinking of the alloy used to make expensive gamelan gongs in Bali. It consists of a blend of gold, silver, copper, zinc and Iron. Normally we would never think of adding Iron to such a mixture but I guess when the other components are molten they act like solvent to dissolve Iron into the mixture.

I have seen a few keris which had a yellowish/brown pamor and I often wondered why it had that color since pamor is usually white/silver or gray

31st July 2014, 02:19 PM	#1
Pusaka Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 341	Im thinking of how sometimes the metal with the lower melting point actually acts as a solvent to melt the metal with a higher melting point. Brass has a melting point of 930C whilst Nickel melts at 1453C yet if you add nickel to a pot of molten brass the brass will dissolve the nickel and you end up with nickel brass. Same for mercury and gold, mercury will dissolve gold and the two will form an amalgam. I'm also thinking of the alloy used to make expensive gamelan gongs in Bali. It consists of a blend of gold, silver, copper, zinc and Iron. Normally we would never think of adding Iron to such a mixture but I guess when the other components are molten they act like solvent to dissolve Iron into the mixture. I have seen a few keris which had a yellowish/brown pamor and I often wondered why it had that color since pamor is usually white/silver or gray