Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Indium metal - $5.00 + $0.50/g to US addresses. Galinstan alloy (mp < 0˚C) also available at this rate.

Indium metal - $5.00 + $0.50/g to US addresses. Galinstan alloy (mp < 0˚C) also available at this rate.

Melgar - 31-1-2017 at 07:32

I bought some indium in bulk, and got a good rate on it. But it's a lot more than I need, so I'm offering it for sale here. Just figure out how many grams you want, divide that by two, and add five to get the price in dollars, including shipping. Pickup is also available, in midtown Manhattan, in New York City, weekday evenings. If you opt for local pickup and if you want at least 20 grams, no $5 surcharge. I may also throw in some reagents I have too much of, like galinstan-activated aluminum. I'd give out the better chemicals that can't be mailed easily if you're picking up locally.

Some uses of indium:

Indium/tin oxide is one of the only transparent conductors that exists, and is used in all LCD displays.

Indium can be alloyed with gallium at a 1:3 ratio to produce a eutectic alloy that melts at 15˚C, or about 60˚F, so below room temperature. Melting point can be further reduced by adding tin to the eutectic bimetallic alloy at a 1:9 ratio, and reduced even further by adding small amounts of antimony and bismuth at about 1% each. Low-melting-point alloys containing gallium, indium and tin as their major components are collectively referred to as "galinstan", and vary between -10˚C and 0˚C melting points.

Indium is also the major component in Field's metal, an alloy that melts at 62˚C. This alloy is less reactive than galinstan, the other important low-melting-point indium alloy, and does not dissolve in alkali hydroxide solutions like gallium (and thus galinstan) does.

Indium melts at 150˚C, and either it or one of its low-melting-point alloys can be melted with solder when removing components from a circuit board. This greatly reduces the solder's melting point, allowing the components to be removed with less chance of thermal damage to the components.

Gallium/indium alloys (galinstan and gallium/indium eutectic alloy) can be alloyed with aluminum to serve as powerful reducing agents in organic chemistry, similar to Al/Hg reduction, but without the associated toxicity. I have a thread on that here:

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=70110

I'm still researching different techniques, as well as the best aluminum sources for this reaction.

Indium is also very soft, and used to make gaskets with high thermal and electrical conductivity.

There are plenty of other applications, and I'm sure that with experimentation, we here at SM can find even more. Shipping is included. Add two dollars to get priority mail if you're buying less than 50 grams ($30). Priority shipping is included if you're buying 50 grams or more. Either U2U me or respond to this thread. I have over half a kilogram to sell, so there should be plenty to go around!

Galinstan is available for the same price as indium, however there will be a limit of 50 grams per shipment, and shipments may take a few days longer if they include galinstan. Metals can be combined too, so 50 grams of galinstan and 50 grams of indium would come to $55.

[Edited on 1/31/17 by Melgar]

stoichiometric_steve - 31-1-2017 at 23:34

What about international shipping?

j_sum1 - 1-2-2017 at 00:05

I am also interested in international shipping. I'll send a u2u when I am on my computer.

Melgar - 1-2-2017 at 12:21

Quote: Originally posted by stoichiometric_steve

What about international shipping?

I'd have to look into it, but I guess I'd just replace the $5 surcharge with whatever expenses I incur shipping it to your country. I can't come up with an easy formula like I can for the US, so how about this?

$15 surcharge + $0.50/g for Canada, UK, Hong Kong, and EU. If it winds up being significantly less than that, I'll issue refunds. If it's significantly more, I'll make you cough up more money before mailing it out. If you want galinstan, I'll try to come up with a gallium-based alloy with a higher melting point, with the other metal being one that's easily removed, or possibly is tin if that works. Reason being, customs is likely to think it's mercury no matter what I'd declare it as, so I'd want to make sure it's all good and solid.

That might not be a bad idea for US customers too.

If your country isn't among those listed, that's probably because I'm under the impression that it's difficult to ship there. The ones I listed are ones that my company does regular business with, and so I have resources available if I want to ship there. We also do business with India, but if you're in India, I'm sure indium is cheaper for you locally. Once I get more experience shipping internationally, I'll look into shipping to Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland, but at least initially, I'll stick to the easier countries.

edit: payment can be via Paypal or Bitcoin (or cash, for local pickup). For Bitcoin, just use the USD conversion rate on coinbase.com to figure out the amount, or if you have a coinbase account, I'll give you my username, and you can transfer it that way.

[Edited on 2/1/17 by Melgar]

MrHomeScientist - 1-2-2017 at 13:32

Shipping gallium or gallium alloys requires special care in packaging, especially if it is going by air. If the package breaks and leaks gallium onto the plane's aluminum hull, it could weaken the structure and lead to bad times for the plane and the shipper (you).

I found this chapter from the CFR that mentions it: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/173.162

It must be packaged according to Packing Group I if going by air, and according to the CFR Definitions page "Packing Group I indicates great danger".

Something to be aware of.

CharlieA - 1-2-2017 at 19:10

NurdRage has a great video showing the effect of soaking an aluminum baseball bat in gallium. After the soaking he could break up the bat with his bare hands. Please don't ship any Ga by air if I'm aboard!

Melgar - 1-2-2017 at 20:43

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist

Shipping gallium or gallium alloys requires special care in packaging, especially if it is going by air. If the package breaks and leaks gallium onto the plane's aluminum hull, it could weaken the structure and lead to bad times for the plane and the shipper (you).

I found this chapter from the CFR that mentions it: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/173.162

It must be packaged according to Packing Group I if going by air, and according to the CFR Definitions page "Packing Group I indicates great danger".

Something to be aware of.

I know. Hence the "extra days" for galinstan orders, and the maximum quantity. For shipping overseas, (and maybe domestically) I'd like to try separating the alloy into two components, one of which is an insoluble salt. Unless I'm wrong, this only applies to gallium metal, so I could theoretically ship gallium oxalate, which could be decomposed into carbonate, which could be reacted with HCl (or maybe even vinegar) to get a soluble salt, which could then be recovered by adding a chunk of aluminum to the salt in hot water. You could add pieces of indium to speed up the reaction of the aluminum, until the bubbling ends, meaning the aluminum is used up. I'd weigh out every metal initially, and make sure they were in the right proportions, so that you'd have a proper galinstan alloy at the end of it all. Does that sound workable to you? I'd include step-by-step instructions to describe how to reconstitute galinstan from an indium/tin alloy and gallium oxalate. Better yet, set up an electrolysis cell with an indium/tin anode, and a carbon cathode. That would be fun to watch, although I may have to raise prices if I'm going to have to go through all that trouble.

[Edited on 2/2/17 by Melgar]

Melgar - 1-2-2017 at 21:05

Quote: Originally posted by CharlieA

NurdRage has a great video showing the effect of soaking an aluminum baseball bat in gallium. After the soaking he could break up the bat with his bare hands. Please don't ship any Ga by air if I'm aboard!

First of all, it's already being done, you just aren't aware of it. Chinese ignoring US laws, mainly. If you're that scared, don't go to China or East Asia any time soon. Second of all, structural components of airplanes have protective coatings anyway. Third of all, children's thermometers have the same stuff in them. Fourth of all, cargo bays tend not to be heated, and at the height that jets fly, it's very, very cold in there. Gallium melts at about the same temperature as chocolate. Fifth of all, I've been researching plans to ship insoluble gallium salts with indium/tin alloys in order to be able to sell a kit that would allow one to reconstitute galinstan from the component metals and a salt. Sixth of all, the reason "Nurdrage" was able to do that is because he had a whole fucking bucket of gallium and a hollow baseball bat. 50 grams would do next to nothing to an airplane unless the airplane was on fire and the structural components were molten, in which case the passengers have a lot more to worry about. Seventh of all, structural aluminum tends to be an alloy that gallium has a much harder time penetrating than commercially pure aluminum. Eighth of all, when molten gallium gets on aluminum, the aluminum tends to flake off as oxide, taking gallium with it, eventually resulting in the reaction ending.

Sorry to go off like that, but your post kind of smelled like the sort of FUD that gets thrown at amateur chemists all the time, and I'm not too keen on ending the present age of easily accessible chemicals via online retailers.

Melgar - 3-2-2017 at 03:21

I read the regulations regarding what can and can't be mailed by air. Anything that would corrode steel or aluminum at a rate greater than 6.25 mm per year at 55˚C cannot be shipped. So no Coca Cola?

http://www.erso.berkeley.edu/erso/sites/default/files/upload...

Solid, water-insoluble gallium compounds seem like they'd be ok to ship. Gallium oxide would probably be fine, since you'd need it to be exposed first to an acid to form a water-soluble salt, then to aluminum to make it corrode, but such an acid would probably be able to corrode aluminum all by itself anyway.

violet sin - 4-3-2017 at 18:43

I purchased 60g of In and it came as promised. Have not had a chance to do any follow up beyond open the package, but looks good. Thanks Melgar, much appreciated.

I wanted a chance to play with some In for fun but only had a small ammount for the element collection. Should get to mess around for some time at this price and product seems good. Paypal safe transaction too.