Cold Welding Metals In a Vacuum

In this video I show you how it is possible to cold weld metals together in a vacuum. I talk about galling vs cold welding and how it caused problems on the Galileo Spacecraft.
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*Any experiment you try is at YOUR OWN RISK. The Action Lab assumes no responsibility for any injury if you attempt anything you see in this video or on The Action Lab channel.

[@TheActionLab]

At 7:20 I definitely did not mean Celsius I meant Fahrenheit, lol. I don’t think I’d be very comfortable in a 60 degree Celsius lab.

[@ancovwojak6058]

Ok.

[@adriancorella5662]

xD you deserve an Oscar

[@chikenmorris7170]

Was just about to comment about that 😂

[@prakharsharma9263]

hahaha i did actually thought what are u saying love from india bro❤️❤️

[@Bnslamb]

Pin that comment or you a lot of comments about it.

[@marzbroz420]

So when I push these two pieces of aluminium together, they should stick together. But they don't. (Vsauce music).

[@ichweinicht1858]

Blah blah blah, right? WRONG!!!

[@Joshua.26]

Or.. Are they?

[@ichweinicht1858]

mathologer, Action lab and Vsauce 2 ❤️❤️❤️

[@isaach1447]

Are you sure this is cold welding and not friction welding? When you put them in the bag and the bag squeezes them, you could have a little bit of friction that could raise the tiny contact points above 85deg. You should put them in the freezer for a while and then try again.

[@isaach1447]

@Joe Duke I’m aware cold welding is occasionally use of space experimentally, my point was that this is not cold welding. This is friction melting gallium which then cools and fuses the pieces together

[@UncleKennysPlace]

Given the melting point of gallium is under 30° C, the slightest friction may cause spot welding.

[@kbee225]

Friction welding.

[@ehodovic]

Exactly what I was just thinking.

[@danoberste8146]

The problem with welding gallium together is that you have to superchill gallium to get it to resolidify. It will stay melted down to pretty low temperatures. I have some gallium that I have to put in the refrigerator for several hours to get it to change back to a solid. It will very slowly crystalize even when it's ~5° C

[@OnTheRiver66]

The thermal conductivity of the metal is too great to allow heat buildup at the contact point with slight friction.

[@animationspace8550]

you have to realize it has to cool back down

[@FallLineJP]

Great video! Two questions: 1) For the vacuum chamber test, wouldn’t you need to remove the oxide layer that is already present on the surface of the two metal pieces? Just putting them in vacuum does not remove the oxide that is already there 2) Would an inert atmosphere (nitrogen?) work instead of a vacuum?

[@phxgen]

IME: yes, no. 'twas argon though, no means to try n2. It's freaking wicked hard to find LN2 in this city of five mill nutjobs, I don't get it. "Most of our atmosphere? Sorry, we don't carry that. You want a bunch of a highly unstable fuel, dissolved in acetone, in a tank full of concrete for super cheap, though? Comin' right up!"

[@phxgen]

Strange having no mention of having to buff off oxide (sulfate, etc) layers to cold weld. Props for knowing stuff, stuff knowers ftw!! So yeah, big time yes to that...unless you're cold welding fine gold or something, then you can just wipe it clean first. I suspect n2 wouldn't do anything. Moreso than argon or any other noble really. Stuff I can pretty easily cold weld with the same process in an ultra high vac regime, does nothing of the sort in a vessel thoroughly purged of air and filled with Ar. I'd imagine inert gases present between the pieces meant to be welded would do what it typically does: be inert, and occupy space between the metals. I wonder if you could _pressure_ weld gallium(for instance)? Not like smashing two pieces together, I mean like putting two pieces in an *extremely* robust vessel and pumping it to 1500 bar or something. That'd be cool.

[@FallLineJP]

@@phxgen Very interesting, thanks!!

[@lucaslucas191202]

@@phxgen Just buy liquid nitrogen and let it boil?

[@phxgen]

@@lucaslucas191202 That's the problem, I haven't (yet) found anyone in this city that'll fill my little dewar. The only place I've found thus far that'll sell me LN2 is like 45min away & they won't fill my dewar, instead they want people to rent their enormous dewars for like $850 & up.

[@blackopsownage]

I asked for this is the comments ages ago, never thought he’d get round to do it! Great video as always.

[@m.s54116]

I messaged him on twitter about this too some months back and he he replied he is a good person

[@AbdullahSayyid]

Same here kid

[@Caerus256]

Same here, i asked him to do it 2 years ago and he did it now.

[@MammaOVlogs]

oh really? wow , way to go

[@Speeeedy]

Who asked?

[@velocitysam4185]

The fact that it didn't work the first time shows us how genuine your channel is.

[@andrewjvaughan]

but... removing the air doesn’t magically make the oxide layer disappear? it only would keep it from forming after forging

[@theoverseer393]

That’s why gallium/indium is being used IIRC

[@orchdork775]

Yea, I was wondering why ActionLab didn't remove the oxide layer first, but then I remembered that he would have to do that *inside* the chamber with a full vacuum pulled, which sounds like it would be ridiculously difficult haha. He would probably need a much bigger chamber, along with specialized tools/gloves that could be controlled remotely, which I'm pretty sure only a professional laboratory could pull off. Oh well, I'm sure that somewhere out there is a cold welding video with a truly accurate demonstration :)

[@orchdork775]

@@theoverseer393 I thought he said that gallium has *less* of an oxide layer, not no oxide layer, but maybe I'm wrong. What confuses me is that I don't think the titanium antenna on that satellite was being squeezed by anything, so how could have cold welded shut if this demonstration is accurate to what happens in outer space?? Even with the squeezing, the gallium in this video was barely welded together, so how could a titanium antenna get welded stuck just sitting out in space, without any outside pressure on it? I thought it must be because the oxide layer on the satellite had been ablated by solar radiation, while the gallium in this video still had its oxide layer. I've tried looking it up to see if I'm right, or if there is something else going on, but I can't find anything.

[@wolfsiejk]

Thats why you need to twist and press to scratch the metal to get it off

[@andrewjvaughan]

@@wolfsiejk yeah... oxides are SUPER hard - simply scratching or twisting the metal won’t do that

[@stevecollins2770]

I'm skeptical about whether you were able to actually cold weld. My understanding is that for cold welding to be successful, you have to get the surfaces scrupulously clean. I wonder if what happened was that a vacuum was created between the two pieces of metal and the edges were so well sealed that air could not get in. You probably had about 1.5 sq-in of surface area there, which would mean around 21 lbs of air pressure. When you take new microscope slides out of the package, they will stick together because they are so flat that the air cannot get between them. (Idea for an episode?) High karat weight gold should be easy to cold weld because it has no oxide layer. Would it work to put a sheet of gold leaf between two very flat silver ingots?

[@arisoda]

Those surfaces were crude af, so I doubt it could have been held together by a mini vacuum. Maybe grease held them together

[@rossbrumby1957]

He said dissimilar metals have different crystalline structures so don't work. But by his theory, 2 gold ingots that are dead flat and smooth, and clean should work. His attempts were relatively filthy from fingerprint sweat/oils let alone not totally flat for good contact. Pretty poor excuse for a lab experiment.

[@Newt2799]

The two ingots still had the oxidized layer from being exposed to the air previously. That layer does not just go away from being in a vacuum. The oxidization had to be scratched off on both ingots by mechanical manipulation. Only a few small scratches were made and connected which is why it was so easy to pull apart.

[@theangledsaxon6765]

@@Newt2799 right but I think he was thinking about the possibility of the bits being vacuum sealed together instead of actually being cold welded

[@schwarzerritter5724]

Yes, it looks more like wringing gauge blocks together.

[@shashank7220]

man i was so sccared about your fingers getting stuck inbetween the 2 monster magnets

[@markusgarvey]

i was gritting my teeth. little Neodymium magnets can hurt you.

[@youtube.commentator]

@@markusgarvey I usually pay extra for them to hurt me

[@SergeantExtreme]

@@youtube.commentator Kinky.

[@sleepful1917]

no you weren't

[@shashank7220]

@@sleepful1917 yes I was

[@InstinctRush]

You have the least click baity titles.. I usually have to force myself to watch your videos because whenever I do watch your videos I'm never disappointed.

[@paulcrouzat6657]

This is so cool! I have an oral presentation to do at the end of my year and your channel is a gold mine of intersting science phenomenons. Thank you for the inspiration! Love your vids

[@Dope-to5pi]

Watch Tom Scot

[@TheShattenjager]

I got here because of a comment on a reddit thread when we were talking about this power tool that astronauts use, and someone mentioned cold welding. Then it was like “whaaaat?” and then yup, here’s a link to a video and : boom, I subscribed. This kind of channel is the bread & butter of my KZbin subscription list. LOVE IT

[@traze_gamer2004]

this is so cool no..this is AWESOME

[@SirGlazer]

Lolf unny pun

[@Lars_Ziah_Zawkian]

Finally not someone using LITERALLY ALL TYPES OF WELDING and saying is cold welding. So nice work!

[@joedragich]

James, your genuine excitement over the things you discover in your videos is infectious. Thanks for the killer content!

[@HifiCentret]

Tis is also the reason why in slow moving mechanics like in clocks where you can't reliably get an oil film in between moving gears then instead you make the gears out of different materials. It's not because brass is cheap as some people might think. It's because the alloy brass (copper and zinc) won't cold weld with steel (iron). The result is that you get a clock that lasts for generations. Had all gears been made out of the much stronger steel it wouldn't last as long as the steel would grind away because of cold welding. Naturally the largest gears are made out of the softest material as that causes gears to wear more evenly.

[@user-zp5vt1tu6b]

Galling is one of the reasons we don't typically use stainless steel anchors for pool safety covers. They are made from brass since they resist galling and oxidize to a nice dark finish that compliments most deckings.

[@rodchallis8031]

I worked in Q.A. in manufacturing for years. We used to "wring" gauge blocks together. The phenomena is not entirely understood, but "cold welding" is thought to be in play. Galling: We press fit steel parts together and with certain product designs we'd get galling, and it took a lot of small process changes to eliminate it.

[@danielmcdowell9526]

It's called ringing when you get to pieces of like material to stick together we use this method in qc labs to put gage block together.

[@sleepful1917]

i think it's wringing

[@kratekgames7610]

7:17 Shouldn't it be Fahrenheit? Galium melts at 29,76 °C

[@Yusso]

yes clearly fahrenheit.

[@jamesbrown99991]

I'm pretty sure he'd be dead if it was 60°C in his room.

[@GammaStyleGaming]

@@jamesbrown99991 heard of a sauna?

[@matiasivanarevalosbenitez811]

@@GammaStyleGaming lol that depends on the core body temperature, if your body temperature gets to 60°, you'd be pretty dead

[@GammaStyleGaming]

@@matiasivanarevalosbenitez811 yes but we were talking about ROOM temperature

[@AJ_Stark007]

I just love this Channel I'm a fan of Physics It's very interesting!

[@LucasTheBot]

Physics is fun until you have to do an exam... school ruins everything

[@neutronenstern.]

@@LucasTheBotIt depends on the teacher if the exams are fun or not Might be in physics, that you get a lot of joy, when you have to calculate how many photons will come out a green laser every second with 3000 W.

[@AJ_Stark007]

@@LucasTheBot Concept wise Physics is Fun But yes I agree with you, exam wise it can get bad a lot of times But as far as you understand the depths of the vast knowledge that Physics provides you, those tests should not matter. Just that fun of learning is more than enough!! That's my take. What say??

[@frogz]

you should check out fermilab @atharva joshi, because physics is everything

[@NBC_NCO]

There's another kind of very unique welding done with explosives. Under extreme heat and pressure you can weld two dissimilar metals making a custom alloy to better suit your needs such as aircraft skin for example.

[@mage3690]

Friction stir welding also does that, but you can't use it for deep (beyond 1 inch) welds without a special machine.

[@bindeshwaribais7598]

I am from indian and my name is ojas and i am of 13 years but has interest in science and i always see this man all videos how he explains that is the best thing of him he explains very clearly

[@vinaythakur4742]

Why did you need to mention your nationality, name and age?

[@JeanJacket311]

@@vinaythakur4742 I agree

[@Viewable11]

Cold welding also works with hard metals, if they have perfectly plane surface and you slide them above each other. Distance or mass calibration items are well suited for this. Such items are stored in a fluid to prevent this from accidentally happening.

[@infernaldaedra]

Basically a shop grease, filtered kerosene, WD40 but generally you want a rust preventative that is easy to remove so kerosene and WD40 work very well.

[@bepisboi7370]

he is more informative than my school teachers

[@arthjai]

Damn true

[@Luco.26]

hahaha

[@EXZRB]

That a good looking pickle ngl.

[@momoreview5555]

HEh iSs MoR3 inForMatiVE tHaN MY SchO0l tEAchEr$

[@motionelco]

He makes a lot more money than a teacher

[@69k_gold]

James in 2040: Today we're going to merge Sun and Mercury together and see what happens

[@deadski8860]

you think humans can survive that far while Covid is here

[@Njadmessi]

@@deadski8860 COVID will either last and end next year or it will go on for a long time but with very low cases for the next 3 or 4 years so we will have to see

[@hacker1oo173]

@@Njadmessi Nice to hear!

[@adityapratapsingh2518]

@@deadski8860 well we survived ww1 ww2 and black death I think covid is kida small compared to these all.

[@gabrieldelatortilla1]

more like 2400

[@FIRE_STORMFOX-3692]

I remember learning about cold welding in space as a kid, it was so mind blowing, one of many reasons why space it's cool figuratively and literally

[@Chris.Pontius]

You went to space as a kid? That's amazing.

[@FIRE_STORMFOX-3692]

@@Chris.Pontius hahahaha nice bro you make my day

[@rossbrumby1957]

@@FIRE_STORMFOX-3692 danger, Will Robinson!

[@MartinPurathur]

I like these videos a bit more than the ultra black paint kind. Keep it up!

[@claudiavanvalkenhoef9971]

How did you send this 27 mins ogo the video was made 9 mins ago

[@jareknowak8712]

@@claudiavanvalkenhoef9971 physics do not work in a vaccum chamber :)

[@xploration1437]

Martin James Who asked you?

[@researchers7998]

The attraction between the large neodymium magnet and the even larger magnet neodynium magnet through the glass was like _a desperate boy wanting to meet his crush_ Lol

[@grifferkay9253]

Cold welding His nose : Feels cold let's swell

[@vasudevraghav2109]

I was about to look for cold welding on youtube, lucky enough TheActionLab uploads Day=Made!

[@Smushroom]

Bro you were my science teacher during quarantine thank you

[@RayMak]

I learn more in this than university

[@cbkia]

why do i see you everywhere

[@kingterpin7256]

Lol, I know why he is everywhere, he posted it on his KZbin, but lol the comment itself made me laugh

[@lordmomstealer]

You should go india and take 8th grade because it was use to teach kid in 8th grade in india LoL

[@gibsonf06]

university is just as bad as high school?

[@ADVERSE04]

Wait....did you say that this concept is given in 8th standards books....stop kidding man....it's definitely not...

[@jojorumbles8749]

As a welder, I am a bit familiar with cold welding. The presence of oxygen has a near immediate effect on metals that have been grounded smooth. Too small to see with the naked eye, oxide and rust immediately forms on a cleaned metal surface on a microscopic level. But if you were to clean the surfaces of two similar metals in an oxygen free tank, they would definitely stick together. I've seen the experiment first hand with a tank filled with pure nitrogen and sealed rubber gloves protruding into the container.

[@adminscamp2563]

Hey Action Lab, put ice cubes in your vacuum chamber. Let us see what happens.

[@ADVERSE04]

They will just melt....😂😂...why does it seem interesting to you....there will be nothing worth significance

[@marsen7350]

@@ADVERSE04 shut up

[@tuyiren781]

@@marsen7350 shut up

[@ADVERSE04]

@@tuyiren781 😂I don't know why people find it interesting.The ice will just melt that's it what do they expect the water to flow or something😂 ,well this is a common misconception among people that gravity doesn't work in no pressure areas

[@FuneFox]

@@ADVERSE04 you must be a fun person

[@PatClevenger0709]

The Action Lab is my guilty pleasure.

[@user-vn7ce5ig1z]

What about wringing gauge blocks together? Is that cold-welding or galling? 🤔

[@barkingbarker8291]

Both as they're basically the same

[@JamesBailey123]

Neither it turns out, check the sixty symbols video on it. It turns out that its just that when you make metals extremely flat to the eye, then when you push them together, they form microscopic suction pads, like the kind that hold your phone holder to your car window, just microscopic. They verified this by adding oil to the surface, and a bit like licking your suction cups, that improved the bonding. If it was cold welding, the oil would stop it working, and secondly once you joined then pulled apart your gauge blocks even once, you'd have microscopic mountains and valleys from where it didn't cleave cleanly, so it wouldn't work twice.

[@Wasiqfarooq7]

He is the only man who build his career from a vacuum chamber

[@talongrayson]

Get some engineering slips. They're so perfectly smooth that putting them together essentially creates a vacuum between them and they stick together like magnets, but they're not magnetic.

[@freezinfire]

I learned the property earlier, cool to watch it in action

[@ericcwalinski]

I have a little concern about how you performed the experiment in the bag. You performed a twisting motion, which should generate some friction, potentially causing a small amount of liquid Ga to be produced, and then resolidify the two pieces together. Might be something to consider.

[@czimm118]

I used to do this all the time at work with hard drive platters, NO VACUUM CHAMBER NEEDED. And it's super fun

[@EzeePosseTV]

Indium to Aluminium: You don't have the Gall to join in the open. - Aluminium: Your bad jokes can't foil my plans.

[@catdaddy666]

looool

[@sketchyandrew]

Crazy when you remember that we're so used to how materials work on a planet with an atmosphere. Which is not the norm universally speaking

[@Bruh-vd1pp]

Ya know, I really didn't expect that you can weld using coldness. It's so _cool_

[@nuiob1766]

theres a similar thing with ice (ik its not metal) but its kinda the same thing you push 2 pieces of ice together and they get stuck

[@Bruh-vd1pp]

@@nuiob1766 that's pretty cool

[@ADVERSE04]

That's due to a pretty different phenomenon dude

[@melody3741]

Its not USING coldness.

[@Bruh-vd1pp]

@@melody3741 Yeah I know, trying to make a pun 6 months ago and I don't even know wtf I was trying to say lol

[@AdityaBadara]

Science is beautiful, loved to study this phenomenon in my +2

[@vasurvawadajkar]

Hey, gallium has a melting point just above room temperature so when you put it in a vacuum, its melting point becomes low and it just sticks to itself! No cold welding today!

[@mikedunn8427]

Just learned about cold welding and was going to ask action lab to make a video on it and then found this!

[@ramakrishnanr3877]

Yesterday I was playing around with slip gauges and my friend rubbed it together and to my surprise it sticked to each other I thought it was magnetic but today after seeing your video I found it was a more interesting phenomenon.

[@Martin-hb4il]

Try using gauge blocks. They are hard metals, extremely smooth, and difficult to separate. Just a suggestion. Love your videos bro.

[@ninopino12]

Your hair looks great bro❤

[@williamsmith455]

It definitely helps if you have two flat highly polished surfaces that you put together.

[@isaach1447]

Are you sure this is cold welding and not friction welding? When you put them in the bag and the bag squeezes them, you could have a little bit of friction that could raise the tiny contact points above 85deg. You should put them in the freezer for a while and then try again.

[@akashrodge5431]

Beautiful .... sensation of the Practical Physics ❤️❤️❤️ dopomin running through my brain

[@simonhaddow5052]

In large steel structures like bridges we often use Tension Friction connections. The mating surfaces are brushed free of rust and the bolts are tightened to snug tight plus 3/4 turn. This creates a kind of pressure weld between the mating surfaces that is stronger than the sheer strength of the bolts. They don’t continue to stick after the bolts are removed.

[@AceKaliburOfficial]

I do welding, and I am thoroughly intrigued.

[@LucasTheBot]

The laws of physics on earth: *exist* A vaccum chamber: "im gonna pretend i didnt see that"

[@SopanKotbagi]

bleh

[@allhumansarejusthuman.5776]

Other way round. Laws of physics exists Earths atmosphere and chemistry:I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that

[@tom_something]

It's my understanding that dissimilar metals can also be cold-welded. But I think one of the challenges is that the two metals have different oxide compounds from one another. One will almost certainly be a harder compound than the other. You remove the air so a new oxide layer can't form, but you have to get rid of the oxide layer already present on _both_ metals. If you attempt to do this by just rubbing them together, the result may be that the harder oxide layer can remove the softer oxide layer, but the softer oxide layer can't remove the harder oxide layer. So you still have a metal oxide between the two metals. It's just a hypothesis. The "simple" solution would be to use a some other abrasive material to remove both oxide layers under vacuum, and then introduce the metals to each other. The tricky part is, now there's a significant amount of time between removing the oxide layer and attempting to cold weld, so even trace amounts of oxygen in a near-vacuum may have enough time to oxidize the metals again. Whereas when you're rubbing them together, there is practically no amount of time between removing the oxide layers and introducing the bare metal.

[@guys_animations]

3:46 that "close" sounded like it had some autotune on it, lol

[@fhsjdjskkshi]

Lol yeah

[@guys_animations]

@@fhsjdjskkshi BREUH

[@fano72]

Color of gallium is so beautiful!

[@matheww7847]

I don't think they were bonded at all. There is a pocket in each puck, you created a vac between them that held them together

[@theproGAMAS]

Yo you’ve been posting my favorite topics these past months. Love it man

[@F_L_U_X]

3:17 - HOLY SHIT

[@TheFlyingKiwiNZ]

You need some friction as well between the two surfaces while in the vaccum, to wear away the bit of oxide layer which is already present

[@Think_Inc]

This guy said “together” too many times than is scientifically possible in a 10 minute video.

[@dahahaka]

Great video, well explained, i like how you showed us how it behaves both with oxygen and without in the same setup (magnets), and also how you mentioned the temperature as i was slightly worried that the gallium might be transfering your body heat, but the room was apparently cold :) credit where credit is due, keep it up!

[@mclaynebalzly1739]

Wait wait wait, so is this considered... cold fusion 😂

[@shydx2010]

I have a question when you talked about galling and cold welding. What about the effect when you put 2 high-precision flat surfaces together and they bond, such as gauge blocks? I remember hearing that I shouldn't leave gauge blocks rung together for long periods of time, else they won't come apart.

[@LeelooMinai]

I wondered about that too - I think they call it "ringing".

[@roborob4000]

Is there any chance the friction melted the metal a tiny amount on the surface?

[@michaelhedrick589]

Yes but I am not good at explaining things so I’ll have to look it up but it’s something called “sublime” I think

[@michaelhedrick589]

Not really the friction but yeah friction could help it occur

[@VoltisArt]

Sublimation means turning directly from solid to gas, with no liquid stage - such as ice evaporating in temperatures too low for water, or dry ice making clouds. Not related.

[@michaelhedrick589]

@@VoltisArt yes

[@schafer6811]

Another metal notorious for cold-welding when you don’t want it to is stainless steel, particularly weldable 300-series stainless steels like 304 and 316. If you clean a type 304 bolt and nut really well, say by dipping them in hot nitric acid to remove the chromium oxide layer, then tighten the bolt and nut together, there is a good chance that they will never come apart. Many a physics grad student working with high vacuum equipment (which is almost entirely made from stainless steel) has learned this the hard way. The solution is to apply a vacuum-safe lubricant like molybdenum disulfide on the threads first.

[@Paul-ty1bv]

Eye protection when playing with strong magnets. Shatter danger.

[@Vasharan]

I think it's also possible the empty space between the billets had a vacuum in it that kept the two pieces together under atmospheric pressure. You should repeat the experiment with two flat surfaces and see if you can confirm cold welsing.

[@pl5882]

Stainless steel nuts and bolts will gall especially when using nylock nuts.

[@pauldriscoll5010]

Stainless steel pipe fittings are really bad for it, to the point if you dont uses something like graphite in the thread you may never separate them

[@fabianalfonsoflores1952]

In preparatory we had metrology, where we used to have measure patterns made of extremely flat surfaces, and one technique for making a bigger patter used to to be to stick two or more patterns by making hard contact between them, our teacher told to us that it was due to vacumm, but, maybe it was a combination of cold welding and vacumm as well

[@TimmyTwo-Toes]

“They finally found out it was a series of unfortunate events”, is there anything Count Olaf won’t do!

[@hacker1oo173]

He is very dedicated XD

[@xj9779]

Our teacher at the vocational school told us that degreased steel gauge blocks must not be left together permanently, otherwise they would be cold-welded. Gauge blocks are manufactured very precisely and used for the calibration of precision measuring devices. They also told us that if this happens you destroy them if you try to torn them apart with force...a pretty expensive experiment a small set cost around 2500€ ..price depends on the clasification grade.

[@ColossalCrib]

Damn oxides.. being a welder, I know these things.

[@lordofelectrons4513]

Cold welding is an actual problem in high & ultra high vacuum systems. Components like screws are particularly prone to this. One solution is the use of a lubricant such as Molibum Disulfide it has a low vapor pressure, tolerates temperatures of at least 200 C. Other agents may be available now days it's been a while since i had to deal with this sort of thing.

[@alfredoprime5495]

Would cold welding work in an inert atmosphere like pure nitrogen or argon? Personally, unless I'm missing something crucial, I don't see why not

[@SuputraBharathi]

Surface layer of metals must be kept clean from any impurities Inertgas is gonna keep metals safe from oxide layer . Since every materials have surface roughness and can act as an air pocket ( impurity ) causing Less metal to metal surface contact . Resulting in very awful weld .

[@chancebutler6472]

mind constantly blown... by ur videos

[@custard-bun]

5:12 "it didn't stick :("

[@allhumansarejusthuman.5776]

Lapping two pieces of gold, or gold plated metal chunks flat is a great way to demonstrate cold welding as well! Also, steel that has decent protection against oxidizing, and is decently clean and very very flat will start to cold weld. Finally more pressure, faster welds. Ive intentionally designed steel parts to be an interference fit that have welded under pressure in just a few hours. No vacuums required, but a good press, and skilled manufacturing is.

[@maxthedog8483]

you have to find a way to remove the oxide layer in a vacuum then find a way to place the two clean surfaces together without ever breaking the vacuum.

[@poppedweasel]

I remember my science teacher, many years ago demonstrating a similar effect to galling by slamming a blackboard eraser into the polished wooden blackboard frame and twisting it slightly. When he removed his hand, the eraser remained where it was. I was quite amazed. A light touch sent it falling to the floor,. But you can cold weld wood too!

[@ShivamSingh-cv2to]

It's due to vaccum and not cold welding.

[@poppedweasel]

@@ShivamSingh-cv2to You think so? I struggle to see enough air being removed from the contacted side, by slamming it as opposed to just pressing it into place, which doesn't work. There's going to be such a little difference in the air being pushed out of the gap between both methods. I was taught it was the rough fibres of the wood, although polished, meshing just enough on a molecular level to hold it in place. If I recall correctly, it wouldn't work cross grain to grain. Only if the grain was aligned would it work.

[@poppedweasel]

@@ShivamSingh-cv2to If anything it was just pure friction. But demonstrated on what seemed to be very smooth surfaces.

[@ShivamSingh-cv2to]

@@poppedweasel It could be friction. If it could also support its weight while being upside down and not vertical then that would be something else but in this case I think you might be correct.

[@poppedweasel]

@@ShivamSingh-cv2to I feel an experiment coming on ;) A pity schools don't have blackboards any more. And it would look creepy me asking access to a school. I'll leave this for the Action Lab.

[@AJ_Stark007]

7:22 Celsius or Fahrenheit

[@neutronenstern.]

clearly Fahrenheit. Or do you think 60°C (140°F) are normal house temp?

[@Banana_Judge]

@@neutronenstern. It is in my house

[@neutronenstern.]

@@Banana_Judge good radiator or do you have a very good wood stove or something. Where can i buy it?

[@Yusso]

Melting point of galium is 29.76 celsius or 85 fahrenheit. So he misspoke.

[@Banana_Judge]

@@neutronenstern. No. I live on the sun

[@kylefer]

It's amazing to think that things like the oxide layer are to thank for two objects of a same molecular composition don't just merge together all the time.

[@rossbrumby1957]

Gold seems to have no problem not sticking together in large heavy piles in places like Fort Knox. No oxidation on 24k gold.

[@kylefer]

@@rossbrumby1957 Afaik the gold stored there is not stored directly on top of one another but has a carbon sheeting between it, either wood or cardboard, or a parchment paper of sorts.

[@Notyouranalyst]

At last.... Oxygen was the Impostor 😶

[@chrisBruner]

If you had two aluminum plates in your vaccum chamber separated by outward facing sandpaper, and pushed together. Then if you pulled the sandpaper off, thus removing the aluminum oxide, would the two aluminum plates become cold welded?

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

Not sure if just that limited application of sandpaper would remove enough of the oxide -- if all the oxide-free surface is in grooves, surrounded by ridges of oxide, you still won't be able to get the metal together. You would have to do a more extensive sanding, and somehow do it in vacuum (like be in a spacesuit in a giant vacuum chamber), because if you do it in air, by the time you can get the pieces into the vacuum chamber and draw the air out, the oxide will already be back.

[@Blackoutfor10days]

Sir can you make liquid metallic hydrogen in your lab.

[@sweetpotato9267]

Do you know what conditions required to make " liquid metallic hydrogen in lab"

[@jayverma1592]

Whaaaaaaat!!!!!!!

[@haroldbn6816]

Sure, let me replicate jupiter's core like presure conditions in my garage.

[@LiveInOC]

In metrology you can wring to steel gauge blocks to each other by just twisting them to each other, but I believe it's just an effect of removing the air between to extremely flat surfaces, creates a vacuum between them. Look up "wringing gauge blocks".

[@fawwaazgaming660]

First

[@TornadoPro2712]

Ugh

[@Oystercaulk]

you could polish the surface of the metals while they are coated/submerged in a volatile solvent, protecting the surface from further oxidation. make sure they're still covered upon being put in the chamber. Once a vacuum is pulled the solvent should evaporate, leaving just the bare metal surfaces in contact with each other.

[@-TheRealChris]

If your using stainless steel fasteners, and you don't use some oil or similar on them, you will learn about galling pretty quickly.

[@ichweinicht1858]

He is simply amazing.

[@opesenator]

i love this guy and his videos.

[@Olaf_Schwandt]

I love your enthusiasm

[@octavianova1300]

for reference, what is gallium's melting point low atmosphere? Because even at STP it's close to it's melting point, so I feel like part of that working with gallium could just be from it being close to its melting point due to decreased pressure.

[@tobi_versace]

The true start of this channel is the vacuum chamber

[@ADVERSE04]

Was studying friction and came across the term cold wielding and meanwhile I noticed this mans video....

[@housecapital2199]

I machined some very precise brass cylinders, about 36mm. Even after oxidizing you could wring them together and they would stick like gauge blocks.