BromicAcid
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Where to buy osmium at close to market price?
Looking at the current prices of precious metals online I see osmium hovering around $400 per troy ounce (31.1 g). Problem is that anyone that
supplies the metal online seems to be either a scientific company or an element collector site, both of which charge a premium (albeit justified,
since in the latter case it must be noted how hard it is to melt the stuff and make nice pieces from it and in the former case making chemicals to
exacting purity). But still, I want a hunk of osmium, it's just so dense and cool! I understand that it is not a high demand commodity outside of
the industrial setting and I think that is what is making this difficult but someone somewhere is buying osmium at that price from someone. Any
pointers would be much appreciated. (Note I am not planning on rushing out and buying anything at this exact moment)
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Eclectic
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Iridium is just as dense, and much less toxic. Probably more available, too.
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BromicAcid
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Iridium is $90 more per ounce though. Still it might be worthwhile to find a source for that as well, though I like the name osmium more.
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Eclectic
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If you are willing to buy 4-5 troy ounces, you might be able to get powder or turnings for 15-25% over spot. I got some Ir turnings from one of the
element suppliers for $225/oz back when the spot price was $190.
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JustMe
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Well of COURSE Osmium is so dense and "cool" but I agree about the Iridium being less toxic.
If you just want something that is really dense, what about Tungsten? Okay, so we have a density of approximately 19 versus 22... feh, betcha cant'
feel the difference! Probably cheaper.
Still, good luck with finding affordable Osmium in bulk. Whew, you ain't asking for much are ya?
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Waffles
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I actually just bought/traded for half an ounce of Os sponge and one ounce Os arc-melted piece.
The reasons buying metals like this are so much over spot are because 1) Os sponge has to be shipped by hazmat, since it forms the oxide, which is
seriously nasty stuff. 2) Material is lost to evaporation when arc-melting and 3) Vacuum chambers used to arc-melt it must be rebuilt completely every
25-30 hours of use.
If I were you, I would talk to companies about buying their scrap shavings from machining sputtering targets- if you can get a real person to
understand that you're not some institution with four grants worth of money to piss away, you're likely to get a lot farther.
\"…\'tis man\'s perdition to be safe, when for the truth he ought to die.\"
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garage chemist
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I think Os is only traded as the sponge in considerable amounts, since it is way too hard and too brittle to make making turnings or chunks easy. I
got 2g of the powder in return for making liquid chlorine ampoules cast into acrylic cylinders for an element collector.
The powder has a spicy smell, quite agreeable in small amounts.
A tip on making soluble compounds of Os from the powder: There are two known methods to this, either alkaline fusion with KOH and KNO3 in a silver
crucible (produces osmate(VI) ) or heating with an alkaline solution of persulfate (produces perosmate(VIII), dark orange-brown solution).
Both solutions yield the tetroxide upon acidification (stays in solution but can be distilled as the azeotrope with water, which boils below 100°C),
the first one by disproportionation, the second one directly.
The compact metal should be extremely hard to dissolve. Probably only the alkaline oxidising melt is a viable option.
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Sauron
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I just looked at Alfa Aeser and they only have Os pwder plus some compounds and they want c.$380-$500 for 5 g powder. They have - 20 and -200 mesh,
the -20 is the higher 9rice.
I just ran across a company selling rare metals, let me go find that and see what they have.
Sorry, interesting site but neither Osmium nor Iridium.
http://www.rembar.com/
[Edited on 13-3-2007 by Sauron]
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Waffles
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Sauron
Sorry, interesting site but neither Osmium nor Iridium.
http://www.rembar.com/
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Rembar is a solid, homegrown American company. They're good people. But no Os or Ir- only refractories.
| Quote: | Originally posted by garage chemist
The powder has a spicy smell, quite agreeable in small amounts.
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That is the tetroxide forming, which happens spontaneously in atmosphere with sponge and fine powder. DO NOT SNIFF THIS.
\"…\'tis man\'s perdition to be safe, when for the truth he ought to die.\"
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prole
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Hey Bromic,
I've got this company marked as a favourite on ebay. They're an element collector site you may already know about, but they do have 1,5,10, and 30 g
spheres of Osmium for sale.
www.elementsales.com
-prole
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