Starlite vs. Thermite (Bonus: Foundry use)

about a week ago youtuber Nighthawk and light provided a potential formula for making starlight star lights a substance which was reportedly heat-resistant up to 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit just for some context the surface of the Sun is nearly half that temperature at nine thousand nine hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit the original formula for starlight had been lost we don't know the upper limit of the formula that Nighthawk and light provided so in today's video we're going to test that against thermite will also test how it could be used in a backyard foundry first we'll start with making Nighthawk star light the formula is some amount of cornstarch the amount is up to you at this point the other components will depend on how much cornstarch you select here I'm using four point eight ounces next add baking soda the amount should be around 10% by weight of what you selected for cornstarch if you're making the same sized batch that I'm making that would be a half an ounce I'm pre mixing it because when you add the binder the mixture will become very thick and you might have pockets where the baking soda is absent optionally also add a tablespoon of salt to prevent mold while the star lights and storage ultimately the star light will need to be kept dry and that'll be explained later on then add the glue here I use two of these school sized bottles of Elmer's glue now it's time to mix it all up if you have too little glue it'll look like cheese curds adding more glue it starts to look like chunky mashed potatoes I'm shooting for creamy mashed potatoes as I wanted to self level to form a brick tap the ball for several minutes to remove bubbles and pop any that rise to the surface but better yet use a vacuum chamber [Music] [Music] I'm baking it in the oven to speed up drying baking it at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for three hours we'll create a foam cooking it for five hours or more the same temperature will create a tile if you didn't use a vacuum chamber you might find your rising prominence like this when you take it out of the oven if this happens to you just compress it it's a very pliable material in the foam state it feels like bread without much leavening it's like a thick PITA if you didn't line the container freeze it's silent to harden it so you can remove it without tearing it I've done it both ways and prefer lining the bowl with parchment paper as a bonus there isn't much left in the bowl to clean up so now we'll need to test it with some thermite here's the formula that I'm using three parts for red iron oxide and one part in aluminum powder put the lid on the container and shake it up to mix it in my first test I pre burned the surface of the Starlight to build up a protective carbon layer I wanted to give starlight the best possible chance of surviving against their light contrary to what you'll find all over the Internet propane can be used to set off the thermite reaction the propane torch temperature is three thousand six hundred and twenty three degrees Fahrenheit I wasn't able to find an exact ignition temperature for thermite but it's somewhere around that temperature for the formula done using nope you'll need to keep the propane on the thermite mixture for about 40 to 50 seconds to trigger the ignition I don't recommend using it to ignite thermite you have to be quite close to the ignition happens without much warning that sudden I ended up doing it twice in this video the star light brick that I tested was around an inch thick after facing off against the thermite 1/8 of an inch was converted to that protective carbon foam in carbon dioxide [Music] and the Starlight survived I then tested the untreated side this means that the thermite will be in direct contact with the Starlight without that intervening carbon foam layer and Starlight winds again as promising as this material is there are some drawbacks this formulation does not hold up well in the presence of water for example after soaking the tile for less than a minute it begins to soften to the point where I can compress it crumble it and scratch it with my fingernail with some caveats starlight might be useful in dry environments like outer space but it wouldn't do in firefighting applications as water is likely going to be used to put out the fire and the dry tile is also very brittle altering the formula or making some kind of a composite can broaden the scope of the application if you have a backyard foundry you're probably thinking about using it as a refractory replacement because we're talking about low cost materials you could line your entire chamber for a few dollars as a test I made a replacement lid out of starlight because the tile is so brittle this time around I baked it into a foam reinforce the interior with two layers of aluminum screen mesh and added handles using a coat hanger as expected it held up quite well on the top of the lid was not hot after the melt there will be about 1/8 of an inch shrinkage when it's exposed to the flame despite the charge state at the bottom of the lid there is no damage to it it's just a superficial carbon layer because you can make only what you need it's more cost effective than Kol fire brick or refractory cement it also has a higher heat rating than most materials and it's lightweight and fallible it isn't the exact formula of starlight so what should we call this Nighthawk starlight night light starch light whatever we call it I suspect we're gonna be seeing a lot more heat resistant products in the near future big thanks to Nighthawk and light his videos in the description below

Channel: AdvancedProcrastination

Views: 101,209

Keywords: foundry, propane, king of random, advanced procrastination, aluminum, nighthawkinlight, advancedprocrastination, starlight, thermite

Id: UQ6CHRm0ZiI

Length: 7min 7sec (427 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 30 2018