Morgan
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Nambe Metal Alloy What Is It?
So I was looking at some salt and pepper shakers given to me a few years ago and reading up on the product. On the bottom of my shakers it's stamped
Nambe 6086 Made in the U.S.A. 1995. All that I could find was that it's supposedly made from 8 different metals. And that seems kind of funny or more
marketing than practicality.
https://www.nambe.com/kissing-salt-pepper-shakers-6086.html
The history of Nambé alloy begins with the development of the alloy by Martin Eden, a metallurgist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The alloy is a
proprietary blend of eight metals that was used to create the signature Nambé products.
"Nambé serving pieces are intended for serving, not for food storage."
https://www.nambe.com/about-us-crafted.html
I wonder if an XRF Spectrometer ...
[Edited on 2-2-2025 by Morgan]
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hedgeberg
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It's not much, but some googling for parents found https://patents.google.com/patent/US20080274375A1/en, which says the following in a list of alloys that are prior art:
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Nambe (an alloy of aluminum plus seven other undisclosed metals), |
So, presumably the main element is aluminum. "6086" in the context of aluminum makes me think of aluminum alloy numbers, so googling "6086 aluminum"
reveals that there's an aluminum alloy called AA6086, of which the components appear to be Al, Si, Mg, Zr, and Cu. Problem with that is that 6086
aluminum sounds way too geared towards very high-strength applications, and that sort of extra high strength alloy isn't really what I'd expect for
food service applications? So, I'm probably barking up the wrong tree here. Hope it helps at least a bit, good luck.
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Morgan
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That's probably a good guess or start. Maybe some trace amounts of silver, tin, zinc, chromium, nickel or titanium, or metals that are halfway food
compatible as an alloy. Just trying to figure what 8 metals could be in it although it's mostly aluminum from all the reading/characteristics.
"eight-metal alloy, which holds
both heat and cold for long periods."
Made of a proprietary Alloy, Nambé Alloy Bowls have the luster and shine of silver with remarkable temperature retention properties.
AI
Properties of the alloy
Has the luster of silver
Has the strength of iron
Is resistant to tarnish, chipping, and peeling
AI generated possibilities
Composition
Aluminum: The main component of the alloy
Other metals: The alloy also contains seven other metals, including iron, copper, magnesium, silicon, and zinc
Properties
Silver-like luster: When polished, Nambé has a silver-like luster
Tarnish resistant: Nambé resists tarnishing, but can discolor or pit if exposed to acidic foods
Oven-safe and freezer-safe: Nambé pieces can be used in the oven and freezer
Forum of some sort
"Nambé is an eight-metal alloy whose major component is aluminum. It was created at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1940s and is exclusively
produced by the Nambé Mills, Inc., which was founded in 1951 near Nambé Pueblo, some 10 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The alloy has the
luster of silver and the solidity of iron. Because Nambé's alloy is a trade secret, the Nambé company does not divulge the rest of the formula. The
metal is often sand cast and polished to a high luster to create aluminum alloy products such as serveware, cookware, bowls, platters, trays, dishes,
plates, napkin rings, candle holders, wine bottle holders, martini shakers and coasters."
Read more: https://www.city-data.com/forum/new-mexico/659837-nambe-ware...
Saw this Model 6070 stamped on the bottom variation which "could" be a clue that the number is referring to a starting alloy, like the 6086 you
pointed out.
Nambe Studio Vase Silver Metal Alloy Model 6070 1994
https://in.pinterest.com/pin/nambe-studio-vase-silver-metal-...
Aluminium / Aluminum 6070 Alloy (UNS A96070)
https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6640
[Edited on 2-2-2025 by Morgan]
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hedgeberg
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I think, based on the description of hardness and their use of stamp numbers that align with aluminum alloy numbers, that they are probably using
standard alloys as a base. My guess would be that they take industry-standard high-strength aluminum alloys, and then to that add some mixture of
silver, tin, and zinc to mildly increase ductility and strongly increase luster when polished.
Aluminum + noble metal alloys do tend to have nice luster. The issue is that they also tend to pit. I think there's a decent chance that, if we assume
Nambe 6086 is AA6086 (Al + Si(possibly optional, iirc Si is usually a pretty intense hardener), Zr, Mg,Cu) into which they then mix Ag,Zn,Sn, to
increase luster and ductility, that's going to get you somewhere close to what we're seeing.
However, now we get into crystal phase metallurgy, and I suspect given this mixture, the heat treatment to get the correct grain structure is going to
be especially complex and probably extremely close-hold. These products look mold-cast, at least before the later polishing steps, so the first step
is probably going to be a very high temperature pour, but after that you're going to need to go through a very specific recipe to achieve the
necessary grain structure, and I wouldn't begin to guess what that is.
If you wanted to do a crystallographic examination of the grain structure on one of their pieces, you could take a bandsaw or waterjet to it, polish
the cut surface to sub-micron smoothness, and then perform a selective etch (I have no idea what kind of selective etch would work for this alloy.
Maybe a mixture of dillute HNO3, HCl, and FeCl3??), and then looked at it under a microscope with transverse lighting, you'd be able to get some kind
of understanding of what the grain structure looks like. Would probably also give some insight into the alloying agents they're using.
I'd offer to do the microscopy step but unfortunately my only decent microscope is currently very, very disassembled.
[Edited on 2-2-2025 by hedgeberg]
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Morgan
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Interesting information and thanks for that. After your mention of grain structure, it led me to this article which had some technical properties of
6086, maybe of interest.
Microstructure and Properties of a Novel Al-Mg-Si Alloy AA 6086
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/11/2/368
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Morgan
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The proprietary Nambe alloy lasted a fair amount of time but nothing extraordinary over other aluminum I have tried.
Nambe Pepper Shaker Quirky Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlhLjt_1hwI
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