Re: Can Gallium form amalgam-type alloys?

From: Angelo (patrik56_at_libero.it)
Date: 08/25/04 

Date: 25 Aug 2004 08:15:17 -0700

Pittsburgh Pete wrote:
> Angelo) wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm wondering if molten Ga (m.p. ca. 30 oC) would dissolve
> > other metals,much like Hg does. And if so, which metals
> > have great, or at least appreciable, solubilities in liquid Ga.
> > I've the feeling that alkali metals will do, probably Al, Sc,
> > and perhaps Y, La, and Lanthanides, too. What about
> > the classical triad Cu, Ag, Au? Also, for Ge, Sn, and Pb.
> >
> > I did some searches, but found about nothing interesting.
> > Any direct info or links would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > thank you for your attention,
> > Angelo
>
> Try searching Google under gallium amalgam.

As said in my OP, I did, but found (a lot of) single cases,
mainly concernig dentistry and failed to get a fully
satisfying, coherent set of data in a chemistry oriented
fashion. Perhaps it's my fault, for not bothering examine
all the huge amount of refs. I'll retry ASAP.

> You will find this four year old British Dental Journal article about
> some commercial dental products:
>
> http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v189/n6/pdf/4800755a.pdf
>
> Amalgams for fillings are medical products which means that a search
> of Public Medline can find lots of abstracts to magazine articles. Go
> to the Entrez site at:
>
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
>
> and put in the key words gallium amalgam.
> There's even one review article titled Gamalgamation!

Oh, very good, indeed!

> Click on "Related Articles" for even more references.
>
>
>
> Pittsburgh Pete

Thanks Pete

Mark Thorson wrote [in a subsequent post]:

> Look here. Gallium indeed forms amalgams with aluminum
> and other metals.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/search-adv.htm

Thanks Mark

Best regards,
Angelo