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Bake your marker . . .

Kat

I'm a love Albatross.
Aug 18, 2006
1,048
0
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34
Carlisle/ Leeds
Hmmm, this is interesting! I know there's an industrial process called 'heat bending' that I think is when they bend the aluminium sheets arround something (I didn't say I knew lots about it!) and blowtorch it to achieve the colour change.

Applying that to this I would say that if you also pre-heat your oven for a good while before you put your barrel in you'd get a better effect since most colour change would be started initially so leaving it in for 5 hours probably makes the same effect as 2 hours.

Or maybe not, just thinking scientifically.
 

Kat

I'm a love Albatross.
Aug 18, 2006
1,048
0
0
34
Carlisle/ Leeds
Sorry about double post this is annoying me I want to know how it works!

When something is annodised it's done to maintain dye and sometimes to prevent come corrosion, and the deep pores in aluminium old the dye better (I can't remember this bit it's comething to do with lubricating film or something) but I always thought that anodising cracked under heat more than 80* so the reason behind the colour change must be that the annodising is loosing some of its colour but retaining colour in these 'deeper pores'? Which is possibly why red never goes blue or anything radge just a lighter version of what it was.

I could be talking utter b0ll0cks but its all I can remember from year11 chem!

I'm gonna have to get on google later today and find out! Anyone any ideas?
 

balf

Mr Fantastico
May 20, 2006
1,911
4
63
Stealing Al's PC parts
Thats about it Kat.

or to simplify it from what I take to be happening.

The Al in effect "opens up" in terms of porousness and "absorbs" some of the dye used in the annodising process thus creating a lighter shade.

As for the anno coating that will stay intact as it is just the oxidation layer of the Al, Odxidation happens in just a few seconds from the layer bieng removed from the surface of the Al. Much like Copper turning green after many years, but quicker and not due to other factors other than Oxygen.

Damage can be caused if you keep on doing the "baking process" to the same part and rapidly cooling it with say ice or water, Aluminium disperses heat very quickly as it is, your stuff should be cool withing a few minutes of it leaving the oven, thats why foil is Aluminum, not something like Steel or Iron that takes muck longer to cool after prolonged exposure to heat (like pans) but they do handle temperature changes much better.