Looking for a non-magnetic, strong, easily glued material

[Donald MacDonald 1Participant @donaldmacdonald1]

[Donald MacDonald 1Participant @donaldmacdonald1]

Hello

I am looking for a material that is:

A. Completely non-magnetic

B. Strength: As strong & abrasion resistant as reasonably possible

C. Size: Available at as a sheet of at least 10x10cm and thickness of 'exactly' 1.0mm (at least 0.97mm, less then 1.1mm)

D. Bonding: Must be reasonably easy to bond with adhesive (e.g. general purpose epoxy resin, or E6000 or CA/superglue)

E. Colour: Must be either black or 'silver' colour

F. Must be machinable. (i.e. I need to be able to sand/machine it.)

G. Needs to be available… fast!
(ideally within 24 hours)

APPLICATION
For indoor use. And normal room temperature. The exact application details are complicated. It is for some scientific testing instrumentation that I am ​​​​making. It will need endure quite a lot of repeating mechanical impacts & a bit of abrasion…

DISCUSSION
I was thinking about various metals:

– Aluminium?
I was thinking of aluminium but the stuff that I have is rather soft. What would be a strong grade & where could I get it from?

– Copper & Brass
I also have some copper & brass but of course neither of them are silver in colour.

Lead is too soft. Titanium is weakly magnetic. Chromium/Platinum – too expensive

Stainless steel – from memory if it is 'Austenitic' then it should be completely non-magnetic. From my notes, the following grades of stainless steel are Austenitic: 201, 205, 301, 302, 303, 304, 316.

But which grade would be best & where can I get it super-fast?!

I was also thinking about some kind of strong black plastic (e.g. Nylon?) but that's quite hard to glue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Donnie

 

Edited By Donald MacDonald 1 on 27/04/2022 21:42:15

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Carbon fibre laminate may work for you, epoxy glass would be another choice except for colour.

Emgee

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

Tufnol Kite is available in black.

Brian G

[Donald MacDonald 1Participant @donaldmacdonald1]

Carbon fibre laminate is an interesting suggestion, however it sounds like carbon fibres do have a slight impact on a magnetic field.
"Carbon fibers are finite conductors with a weak diamagnetic response in a static magnetic field. "

**LINK**

I don't know anything about "epoxy glass". Is it a sheet of epoxy resin with "fibre glass" embedded in it?
If so I think it might be too brittle and/or not very good at resisting abrasion.

Meanwhile I found this on "1mm Aluminium Sheet Plate – 1050 Grade" on Amazon
**LINK**

However is grade "1050" relatively soft? (I understand that aluminium alloys do vary in strength pretty dramatically..)

Don

[HuubParticipant @huub]

You could try black POM. To glue it you need a special glue

POM glue

There are others types of glue for POM and other plastics.

[Donald MacDonald 1Participant @donaldmacdonald1]

Posted by Brian G on 27/04/2022 22:16:28:

Tufnol Kite is available in black.

Brian G

I've never used Tufnol Kite. It sounds interesting. Can you recommend where could I buy a small piece?

TBH, I'm having doubts now. Maybe I should settle for Aluminium or a non-magnetic stainless steel?

Thanks

Don

PS TBH, I've never used Acetal (POM – Polyoxymethylene) either.  How would it compare to any of the other materials in terms of impact resistance/strength/abrasion resistance…?

Edited By Donald MacDonald 1 on 27/04/2022 22:28:18

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Posted by Donald MacDonald 1 on 27/04/2022 22:16:44:

I don't know anything about "epoxy glass". Is it a sheet of epoxy resin with "fibre glass" embedded in it?
If so I think it might be too brittle and/or not very good at resisting abrasion.

Don

I should have stated laminated glass cloth and epoxy resin, also available with polyester resin material.

Emgee

[Donald MacDonald 1Participant @donaldmacdonald1]

What about Stainless Steel – "Grade 316L"
e.g. on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074SWM4S5/
**LINK**
Although it is available "tomorrow" however this product is isn't very well reviewed on Amazon… :^/

Don

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Donald MacDonald 1 on 27/04/2022 22:53:23:

What about Stainless Steel – "Grade 316L"
[…]

.

You might find this useful: **LINK**

https://www.greenwoodmagnetics.com/resource/what-is-the-difference-between-304-and-316-stainless-steel/

MichaelG.

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

Epoxy glass material has been used for PCBs (printed circuit boards) and are used in a few thickness's. It can be cut but not really accurate.

Any of the SRBP/SRPL (synthetic resin bonded paper, and synthetic resin bonded linen, if I remember rightly the SRPL has better properties) machine moderately well. Look at Tufnol, they make it, they market it in all sorts of special trade names (Carp, Whale etc)

Acetal resin could be quite interesting. The sheet panels are probably not adequately flat for your purpose, so they would need to be machined. It can be a challenge.

Personally I would suggest that you use 7075 T651, its very strong, i.e. better than steel, machines beautifully, relatively cheap. Probably to easy.

cheers

Bill

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

That aluminium chequer plate they glue onto landrovers is pretty tough

Get a 1mm sheet of 5bar and sand it down

Edited By Ady1 on 27/04/2022 23:26:20

[Donald MacDonald 1Participant @donaldmacdonald1]

Posted by Bill Pudney on 27/04/2022 23:10:19:

Epoxy glass material has been used for PCBs (printed circuit boards) and are used in a few thickness's. It can be cut but not really accurate.

Any of the SRBP/SRPL (synthetic resin bonded paper, and synthetic resin bonded linen, if I remember rightly the SRPL has better properties) machine moderately well. Look at Tufnol, they make it, they market it in all sorts of special trade names (Carp, Whale etc)

Acetal resin could be quite interesting. The sheet panels are probably not adequately flat for your purpose, so they would need to be machined. It can be a challenge.

Personally I would suggest that you use 7075 T651, its very strong, i.e. better than steel, machines beautifully, relatively cheap. Probably to easy.

cheers

Bill

Hello Bill

Any idea where I can get a small piece of 1mm thick "7075 T651" Aluminium sheet, at short notice?

I'm not having much luck on either ​​​​​Amazon or eBay…

Cheers

Don

PS You might find this link interesting. It compares your "7075 T651" to 1050 aluminium.

https://www.makeitfrom.com/compare/1050-A91050-Aluminum/7075-T651-Aluminum
**LINK**

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Aluminium is paramagnetic. Depends on what the application involves.

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

I would look for someone who builds aircraft. But I live in Australia. But either 7075 T651 or 2024 T3 should be available in the UK, but Amazon or eBay are likely to be not a lot of use.

cheers

Bill

[Donald MacDonald 1Participant @donaldmacdonald1]

Posted by not done it yet on 27/04/2022 23:53:23:

Aluminium is paramagnetic. Depends on what the application involves.

The application involves high strength permanent magnets. The main thing is that it is important that material does not "short circuit" the magnetic flux between two plates.

D

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

Been a lot of suggestions here, but to be honest, the best that helpful folk can do here is to shoot in the dark- you hint at all sorts of constraints and very specific limitations but describe naught that would help in people giving more appropriate advise. Strong and abrasion resistant – Aluminium is not the latter – it galls. Fibreglass – FR4 esp, is very strong, very abrasion resistant, very accurate in thickness, 0.2 to 3mm in steps of 0.2mm, etc, etc, etc, etc – but then you add another constraint – must not be brittle…Which FR4 is NOT. But its not silver or black – so what's wrong with paint – or is the pigment now to magnetic???

If the project is so secretive then I suggest you obtain a sheet of Unobtanium from ACME Co in Never-Never land – should do the job!

But seriously – how do you expect folk to help when everything pertinent is a secret, and ever suggestion is met with another constraint….and 10 hours have past already so whats the 24hour rush..or is there a magnetic pole flip due this morning?

Sheesh..

[Andrew EntwistleParticipant @andrewentwistle]

Hi Donald,

If you can accept the inevitable slight magnetic susceptibility I would go tor the amazon stainless which fits all of your specifications. Otherwise I would try Tufnol, available in 1mm sheets from direct-plastics.co.uk or another plastic.

Andrew.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Hear hear Joe! Get some 1mm Ali sheet from B&Q and give it a try, come back if it doesn't work.

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

Totally agree with Joseph, and if you want help have the decency to tell us all about what you are doing, also how about YOU try doing your own research, stop using the typical manager technique of delegating everything and doing nothing yourself. In short tell the complete story of what you are doing, why you are doing it etc. Nobody minds helping people achieve their goals but I suspect this a business venture and in MY opinion you are taking the p**s

[Alan JacksonParticipant @alanjackson47790]

What is wrong with hard wood? Like lignum vitae

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Once a source of 1mm sheet is located maybe we will be asked for ideas on how to cut it and down chamfers on the edges…

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by John Haine on 28/04/2022 10:46:43:

Once a source of 1mm sheet is located maybe we will be asked for ideas on how to cut it and down chamfers on the edges…

Using nothing more than string and the power of stubborn thinking

[Donald MacDonald 1Participant @donaldmacdonald1]

Thank you for all your thoughts, folks. [Albeit what a strange reaction from some of you!]

I was hoping that you might be able to furnish me the names of model-making suppliers because as we all know sourcing small amounts of industrial materials can be difficult to locate, slow to arrive and suffer from large minimum order quantities.
I just wanted some suggestions as to what materials that I hadn't thought of, and which might also be swiftly available.

Time is short and I don't need a perfect solution. And I am assuming that you lot have better things to do than to read my PhD. But to save time I have carefully given you the broad constraints which should suffice.

I couldn't locate any higher performance Aluminium last night, so to keep things moving I have ordered some Grade 1050 Aluminium plus some 316L Stainless Steel in 1mm sheet from Amazon. I suspect that the 1050 is probably a bit soft and I am suspicious that the 316L will be under 1mm (as well as the paramagnetic concerns), however one or other may do the job well enough for now, and both of which should arrive within 24 hours.

I spoke to direct-plastics.co.uk, (good suggestion, thank you Andrew!) about Tufnol of which there are various sub-types. However they said that a) it can chip on impact and b) it's not black. Instead Direct Plastics suggested black Nylon 6 so I ordered a small 1mm thick sheet. Nylon 6 it can be hard to bond with standard epoxy resins, but they suggested Permabond TA4246 (a "2-part, no-mix, room temperature curing structural adhesive"  ), which I have also ordered from GlueOnline.co.uk who offer a next day delivery. The Permabond TA4264 should like it will be useful for other stuff I am working on.

If the 1050, 316L and Nylon 6 all fail, then fibreglass (FR4) will be next on my list.

I think most woods are will be softer and less good a resisting abrasion than each of 1050 Aluminium and 316L stainless. Any normal paints will presumably abrade off as well as require a really good bond so I'm not going that direction for now.

Don

Edited By Donald MacDonald 1 on 28/04/2022 13:01:04

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

How about coating something with CeraCoat (spelling?) an industrial ceramic coating?

[Author]

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