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Joe Pelonio
07-12-2007, 10:15 PM
I discovered this material quite by accident, but it sure is interesting. Apparently a pure precious metal powder with water and organic binders. After firing the water and binders are gone leaving pure metal. Curiosity has the best of me. If you roll it out and cut intricate shapes for say, jewelry, by laser, will the edges already be hard as if fired by the cutting? If so, would that make any difference? You could still fire it to harden the rest...

Thinking about buying some to play with, anyone else tried it?



http://www.metalclay.com/

Bill Cunningham
07-12-2007, 11:12 PM
Kinda sounds like a precious metal form of Solder Paste which uses the same principal, but a much lower temperature....I wonder what the shrinkage is?

Mike Null
07-13-2007, 6:55 AM
They have it posted at 10-15% for a couple of the types and 25-30% for the other.

Gary Shoemake
07-13-2007, 5:13 PM
My understanding is that some of the inert material in the metalclsy has PVC compounds in it. We use it on the jewelry side of the business and the literature I've seen lists it as a component.

Belinda Barfield
07-14-2007, 7:19 AM
Joe,

You probably already have this, but the manufacturer's website is: http://www.mmc.co.jp/english/product/precious/01.html

I know some ladies who are making jewelery with PMC and asked them about the PVC, but they don't know if PVC is a component or not. They did say the laser should heat it enough to fire the edges.

The William Holland School of Lapidary Arts has PMC classses. All of their instructors are more than willing to answer questions, so you may want to give them a call. I have a friend who took the PMC class and I'll ask her about the laser effect on PMC also.

http://www.lapidaryschool.org/

Dave Jones
07-14-2007, 11:21 AM
I found this on the Mitsubishi web site:

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Role of organic binder
The organic binder in PMC glues the pure silver particles. Because it is organic, it consists of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. When fired at high temperature in the atmosphere (where oxygen exists), the carbon turns into carbon dioxide, hydrogen plus oxygen into water vapor, and some oxygen is used in the chemical reaction. The organic binder totally disappears without a trace.

Safety of the PMC series on the human body
PMC is composed of pure silver particles, organic binder, and water. Generally, silver is not toxic; it is often used in tableware. The organic compound of the binder is not toxic. The American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM), an inspection institute in the United States, certified the conformity of the gas generated from the clay or during the firing of the clay with the ASTM D4236 standard. Some, depending on their physical constitution, may experience an adverse reaction. If so, immediately stop using the product. If you fire with the material other than PMC, be careful because harmful gas (irritating smell) may be emitted. If a large amount of PMC is fired in a closed room, it may create a deficiency of oxygen. Ventilation must be provided.

A few individuals are allergic to silver. In this case, immediately stop using silver pieces.

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This seems to imply that the binder is not plastic, like PVC based. Though it doesn't actually say that there isn't any PVC in it. Since this is intended to be used on stoves and in small desktop kilns, you would hope that they would mention if it put off chlorine when heated. My guess (and this is just a guess, so don't blame me if I'm wrong) is that there is either no PVC or if there is then it's a tiny amount.

Richard Rumancik
07-23-2007, 1:00 PM
Joe, I was thinking along the same lines . . . actually I have a book borrowed from my library on the subject of Metal Clay (by Sherri Haab 745.5942 HAA).

I have been pondering how the laser could be used in conjunction with this material. The material is normally cured in a small kiln but you can cure it with a flame. Rate of heat application could be an issue (ramp time). Apparently a slower ramp is better to reduce cracking. The laser is fairly instantaneous. But with the flame they say it needs to get "red-orange" hot for a couple minutes for a full cure. The laser might be able to give it a partial cure. A slow speed is probably needed.

I don't know if the laser could "separate" or cut the material - since the density of silver particles is very high you may get a lot of attenutation of the beam (maybe even sparking). Perhaps it would leave a mark though, so you could separate it cleanly with an X-acto knife. It would be interesting if you could use 2.5D or 3D lasering techniques to cure a pattern on the sheet material but it is not obvious how to proceed, as it is not a liquid resin where the excess can be "poured off" like stereolithography or UV-cured polymers. Jewelry is a higher-end product that could warrant the laser and process time.

I'd be inclined to do some experiements too but I suspect this material is a bit expensive. If you try anything, please report back to us on the forum.

There should be a way lasers can be applied to processing this material but it needs some brainstorming and R&D to come up with a process.