Help ID'ing metal

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Looking for some help figuring out what type of metal I bought today.I bought some 7/8'' round bar for a project, at first I thought it was chrome plated but it is the same "nickel" color thruout.  It is ferrous, a magnet does stick to it.Looking for ideas on what it might be and if I can weld it to mild steel w/my AC stick welder.ThanksPS.  It throws off small orange sparks when I grind it.Last edited by GLwelder; 10-30-2007 at 10:21 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by GLwelderLooking for some help figuring out what type of metal I bought today.I bought some 7/8'' round bar for a project, at first I thought it was crome plated but it is the same "nickel" color thruout.  It is ferrus, a magnet does stick to it.Looking for ideas on what it might be and if I can weld it to mild steel w/my AC stick welder.Thanks
Reply:Grind of a chunk and see how it welds. It's really hit or miss since you don't know what it is.
Reply:It could be a lot of things.  It could be a nickel alloy like Monel (it's not a boat prop shaft is it?), Inconel, or Hastelloy.  It could be a 400 series stainless steel.  It could be mild steel that just hasn't had a chance to rust yet.  Even some 300 series stainless alloys are magnetic (cold worked 316, 310, and 312).  The 300 series and nickel alloys would only be weakly magnetic.
Reply:i bet if you take it to a scrap yard, they will shoo tit wih one of their little "alien guns". they take a small X-ray, or burn a small circle in the sample metal in order to analyze the chemical makeup of the metal. i'm not sure if they woudl charge you for it, but i bet if you sweet-talk them, they would do it for free. there are no consumables for the gun... my shop is loking into buying an X-ray version... it breaks down everything to within +/- 2 ppm for everything that has a higher atomic number than carbon (it can also pick up Aluminum, even though it's lighter than carbon on the periodic table). it's a nifty little machine, but for $25,000-$35,000 for a little gun, it had better make eggs and bacon every morning too. alos, the X-ray versions require a state registration license to own one, and the license isn't cheap either.also, if you are close to a college/university, i bet they coudl do a bit of analysis for you. my local community college loves when people do that (free practice for students). they will do it for free, but the students will be the ones to analyse the sample, under the supervison of the teacher.hope that helps,Later,Andy
Reply:it may or may not be cold rolled steel, how does it grind? try grinding it. are the sparks long and the material grind easy, or does it have tiny sparks and the material is alot tougher to grind?Nothing Ever Got Done By Quitting, Never Give Up.
Reply:Perhaps you could go back where you bought it and find out.DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:I thought I would put a couple of pictures on here to see if that helps.I got the material from a scrap yard and the operator is a great guy, but he didn't know what kind of steel it is.The bar grinds fairly hard and gives off small red sparks.
Reply:About how heavy is it? it looks familar due to the marks on the side (the dark ones that are evenly spaced that trun the length of the bar). i used to use it at Danly/IEM in Ionia, MI, before we were bought out. i jsut can't remember the exact name of it. we used a lot of bronze and diamond-cased steel, so it wasn't too comon for us to use steel like that, but i remember seeing it.ive us the weight and some dimensions (i know you said it was 7/8" diameter.) and maybe that will help.later,Andy
Reply:Ok, read all posts on this thread but as I am new to welding I am learning about what metals can be welded to what metals. Is there a book or online reference that can help. I have two books already and neither goes into that area. Thanks in advance
Reply:Originally Posted by sunbeam39Ok, read all posts on this thread but as I am new to welding I am learning about what metals can be welded to what metals. Is there a book or online reference that can help. I have two books already and neither goes into that area. Thanks in advance
Reply:Thanks, I'll check the links out!!
Reply:Well its not T.G.P.Looks like 4140.....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Drill rod?David Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Hey guys thanks for the replys.  Good eye Andy, I didn't notice the turning marks till you mentioned them.  I didn't have a chance to weigh a piece, I would guess it has the same density as most of the steel I usually work with.    I'm still not sure what it is but it seems to weld ok.  I welded the end of a short piece to a 1/4" plate and hammered the **** out of it and the weld held up.  In any case the brackets I will be welding to the bar won't really be stressed much,just act as catches to keep the safety bars from moving.  Hey Zap whats 4140?   David I when I bought the rod it was a 12-13' length, don't know if that offers any clues.
Reply:4140 is a alloy steel thats used for high bearing loads...Pre heated to red in the weld area before welding or the welds will crack if not...I'm no metalurgest by any means...But its used in heavy duty stuff where hot or cold rolled just will not do.....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:4140 is a medium carbon steel 40 ppoints of carbon. The heat affcted zone will become hard/brittle. But if you are welding it in them holles that I see in your picture you should be fine with 7018. I would pre-heat till it turns just straw colored.(about 400 deg. F) Just to be shure. Try filing a corner,hen fie a know steel it is a good way to tell. I pre-heat allmost everything I weld. But I mostly weld tool steel.(s-7,p-20,H-13,D-2 etc.)Bottom line is if it is not going to kill some one if it fails mild steel or 347-316? ss will join carbon steel.  just use yor best judgement on the safety issue.Last edited by welderman1; 10-31-2007 at 10:28 PM.
Reply:7/8" diameter, solid steel bar, 12-13' length (probably cut when you bought it). i'd be willing to put a little money down that it used to be a drilling rod for rural water wells. they usually come in 20' lengths (my family's lumber yard used to drill them in western nebraska a LONG time ago... before i was born). my dad and i took a section of one of the bent rods, heated the end with an O/A torch till it was workable, beat the piss out of it and turned it into a wrecking bar... think of a 5' prybar made with about 1" solid steel... no bends, just a flattened tip on one end.later,Andy
Reply:Hey not sure where you live, but if you are near Milwaukee, I could shoot it for you with our material analyzer.Just another Boiler Rat/Engineer
Reply:Try a bench hardness test. Take a center punch to it (in an inobtrusive portion). Mild steel will easily be marked, other than mild steel will barely have a dent, hardened steel or tool steel will not even scratch.City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:The length of the bar won't tell you what the material is.  Depending on the region and the local needs and/or practices, stock at a steel yard could be in 'standard' lengths of 10', or 12', or 20', or 40', etc.And the weight and density on a bar would maybe just help you narrow it down to 'it could be aluminum' or 'it could be steel'.  Which helps in the very broad scheme of material ID, but not enough to be all that helpful.  No way would weighing a steel bar let you figure out if it is 1020, or 4130, or 4340, or etc, etc.41xx is a low alloy carbon steel, with a little bit of chromium and a little bit of molybdenum.  So they may also be called chrome-moly or cro-moly steels.  The last two digits in the alloy name are the percentage of carbon, so 4130 is chrome-moly steel with 0.30% carbon.The 43xx series is low alloy steel with chromium, molybdenum, and nickel in the alloy.  So they are chrome-moly-nickel steels.Once you move 'up' in steel from low carbon plain steel (like plain ole 1018/1020 hot-rolled or cold-rolled) to the medium carbon steels (plain or alloy steel) and then the high-carbon and tools steels, preheat is almost always needed for succesful welding of those materials.The only way to tell for sure what it is, is to have it tested.  If you just want to stick weld it together for a non-critical use, preheat it and do a BFH test.