MAGNESIUM - MIMICKING NATURECreatures can take calcium and magnesium and - 3-D print thier shells.
Yes, nature is remarkable.
Magnesium metal, if put to flame will ignite and poses many issues for - 3-D printing.
Some have resorted to using - Mg paste - averting many of the hassles.
But if we step back and look at - magnesium - from a 3 stance of, crystal structure, nature and pre metal ignot.... and ask...
Could there be a better process in which allows one to work with magnesium and still apply
3-D printing ? I think there could be.
Magnesium metal if melted - does not ignite.
It melts.
Therefore,
the same principals could apply to working with - mgco3 - in a melt format.
One could simply use
mgco3 or Caco3 - powders.
mix with binders
form paste - use mold
apply low heat ( sets - the desired structure ) with temp hardness
Then... place in sintering autoclave for final melt to establish final product hardness.
No flame. No ignition problems.
Simply using caco3 + mgco3
binders
two stage low heat - high heat autoclaving / sintering.
The medical industry has it's eyes set upon, calcim and magnesium.
Biomedical parts / implants.
Several papers on this subject due to the compatability of these metals with human body.
Yet... can we learn from the medical field and perform a carry over into mining ?
I would say, unequivically, yes.
Here's a paper discussing how they learned from nature, creatures that use calcium and magnesium, and well, they too manufacture in a similar fashion of 3-D printing.
Think reefs and sea shell creatures. Lobster, crayfish, crabs, snails...etc....
The medical industry is fascinated with the - hardness - of these shells and the uses of
calcim and magnesium - bonds.
This paper discusses the - low sintering - effects of calcium and magnesium and how the
crystaline structures collaborate / bond together - using low heat instead of high.
Prior to a final high heat curing.
It kind of involves the subject i spoke about few weeks ago... asking ?
Could one use - mgco3 - right out of the gates - bypassing - the production of mag metal ?
I would say, yes...
If one applies the low heat process using binders to create managable pastes and molds.
If anyone is serious about the subject of, magnesium
and how to avert the high costs of, expensive furnaces - then...
perhaps rethinking the process of how to take a raw mgco3 to metal using low heat, could be
the right path in which to use.
Personally... i find many strive to perfect many of the metals, yet...
In the end, we end up mixing different alloys in which to improve and strengthen the original
pure metal. The efforts and labors of trying to make a pure metal ( in some cases ) are pointless, when in the end, many end up mixing - metals - to make a stronger alloy.
Kind of like... a salt aquifer is already a charged battery.
All the salt, not just one, retain an ionic charge.
We can keep a salar or salt aquifer as it is... and sponge the electrons of many salts, or.,..
Pull one out, refine and purify, only to take another energy - and store it with in the salt.
A great example of, pointless. wink.
Nature has many machinations at play.
Several metals collaborate and morph, as do, salts.
We humans love to perfect and purify, yet... what if nature has already made it perfect with it's
own blends... but we just can't see it ?
Here's the research paper on, CaCO3 + Mg ( mg used to reinforce the calcium - crystal bonding )
Note - thery converted the Ca + Mg carbonate with ( Cl ) to form a powder
Binders to create a pasteto assist with 3-D printing
Then... Low sintering
It's the kind of research i've been searching for - one that aligns with my own thoughts on,
using - mgco3 - and go direct to - metal - bypassing expensive furnace while averting the
properties of magnesium metal - ignition.
I wish i could find a paper on, using MgCO3 powder to paste and apply 3-D laser printing.
I wonder if the carbon could stabalize and in addition... morph the magnesium into a carbon
carbide magnesium ?
It's ideas like this.. .more research should be performed.
Would love ot see our junior crush and grind the mgco3 and try several binders and run through
a 3-D laser printer to see if it's feasable. ( high heat ) would the metal have high strength ?
Or.. would it need a second treatment with high heat sintering ?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590006421000284
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I would say.... 3-D metal printing is in a ( hush, hush, pahase )
Many are jumping into this... but so little is talked about.
Such points to, markets are in their infancy while the shift occurs where rank and pecking order is being ironed out - gaining contracts - yes.. .markets are changing rapidly.
Take amoment and read a few of these headlines...
3-D metal printing is accellerating.
https://www.smartechanalysis.com/news/
https://www.smartechanalysis.com/news/bound-metal-and-metal-binder-jetting-additive-market-to-become-dynamic-accessible-opportunity-producing-54b-in-metal-parts-through-2030/
Cheers....