Looking for a non-magnetic, strong, easily glued material

Hello

I am looking for a material that is:

A. Completely non-magnetic

B. Strength: As strong & abrasion resistant as reasonably possible

C. Size: Available at as a sheet of at least 10x10cm and thickness of 'exactly' 1.0mm (at least 0.97mm, less then 1.1mm)

D. Bonding: Must be reasonably easy to bond with adhesive (e.g. general purpose epoxy resin, or E6000 or CA/superglue)

E. Colour: Must be either black or 'silver' colour

F. Must be machinable. (i.e. I need to be able to sand/machine it.)

G. Needs to be available... fast!
(ideally within 24 hours)

APPLICATION
For indoor use. And normal room temperature. The exact application details are complicated. It is for some scientific testing instrumentation that I am ​​​​making. It will need endure quite a lot of repeating mechanical impacts & a bit of abrasion...

DISCUSSION
I was thinking about various metals:

- Aluminium?
I was thinking of aluminium but the stuff that I have is rather soft. What would be a strong grade & where could I get it from?

- Copper & Brass
I also have some copper & brass but of course neither of them are silver in colour.

Lead is too soft. Titanium is weakly magnetic. Chromium/Platinum - too expensive

Stainless steel - from memory if it is 'Austenitic' then it should be completely non-magnetic. From my notes, the following grades of stainless steel are Austenitic: 201, 205, 301, 302, 303, 304, 316.

But which grade would be best & where can I get it super-fast?!

I was also thinking about some kind of strong black plastic (e.g. Nylon?) but that's quite hard to glue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Donnie

Edited By Donald MacDonald 1 on 27/04/2022 21:42:15

Carbon fibre laminate may work for you, epoxy glass would be another choice except for colour.

Emgee

Tufnol Kite is available in black.

Brian G

Carbon fibre laminate is an interesting suggestion, however it sounds like carbon fibres do have a slight impact on a magnetic field.
"Carbon fibers are finite conductors with a weak diamagnetic response in a static magnetic field. "

**LINK**

I don't know anything about "epoxy glass". Is it a sheet of epoxy resin with "fibre glass" embedded in it?
If so I think it might be too brittle and/or not very good at resisting abrasion.


Meanwhile I found this on "1mm Aluminium Sheet Plate - 1050 Grade" on Amazon
**LINK**

However is grade "1050" relatively soft? (I understand that aluminium alloys do vary in strength pretty dramatically..)

Don

You could try black POM. To glue it you need a special glue

POM glue

There are others types of glue for POM and other plastics.

I've never used Tufnol Kite. It sounds interesting. Can you recommend where could I buy a small piece?

TBH, I'm having doubts now. Maybe I should settle for Aluminium or a non-magnetic stainless steel?

Thanks

Don


PS TBH, I've never used Acetal (POM – Polyoxymethylene) either.  How would it compare to any of the other materials in terms of impact resistance/strength/abrasion resistance...?

Edited By Donald MacDonald 1 on 27/04/2022 22:28:18

I should have stated laminated glass cloth and epoxy resin, also available with polyester resin material.

Emgee

What about Stainless Steel - "Grade 316L"
e.g. on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074SWM4S5/
**LINK**
Although it is available "tomorrow" however this product is isn't very well reviewed on Amazon... :^/

Don

.

You might find this useful: **LINK**

https://www.greenwoodmagnetics.com/resource/what-is-the-difference-between-304-and-316-stainless-steel/

MichaelG.

Epoxy glass material has been used for PCBs (printed circuit boards) and are used in a few thickness's. It can be cut but not really accurate.

Any of the SRBP/SRPL (synthetic resin bonded paper, and synthetic resin bonded linen, if I remember rightly the SRPL has better properties) machine moderately well. Look at Tufnol, they make it, they market it in all sorts of special trade names (Carp, Whale etc)

Acetal resin could be quite interesting. The sheet panels are probably not adequately flat for your purpose, so they would need to be machined. It can be a challenge.

Personally I would suggest that you use 7075 T651, its very strong, i.e. better than steel, machines beautifully, relatively cheap. Probably to easy.

cheers

Bill

That aluminium chequer plate they glue onto landrovers is pretty tough

Get a 1mm sheet of 5bar and sand it down

Edited By Ady1 on 27/04/2022 23:26:20

Hello Bill

Any idea where I can get a small piece of 1mm thick "7075 T651" Aluminium sheet, at short notice?

I'm not having much luck on either ​​​​​Amazon or eBay...

Cheers

Don



PS You might find this link interesting. It compares your "7075 T651" to 1050 aluminium.

https://www.makeitfrom.com/compare/1050-A91050-Aluminum/7075-T651-Aluminum
**LINK**

Aluminium is paramagnetic. Depends on what the application involves.

I would look for someone who builds aircraft. But I live in Australia. But either 7075 T651 or 2024 T3 should be available in the UK, but Amazon or eBay are likely to be not a lot of use.

cheers

Bill

The application involves high strength permanent magnets. The main thing is that it is important that material does not "short circuit" the magnetic flux between two plates.

D

Been a lot of suggestions here, but to be honest, the best that helpful folk can do here is to shoot in the dark- you hint at all sorts of constraints and very specific limitations but describe naught that would help in people giving more appropriate advise. Strong and abrasion resistant - Aluminium is not the latter - it galls. Fibreglass - FR4 esp, is very strong, very abrasion resistant, very accurate in thickness, 0.2 to 3mm in steps of 0.2mm, etc, etc, etc, etc - but then you add another constraint - must not be brittle...Which FR4 is NOT. But its not silver or black - so what's wrong with paint - or is the pigment now to magnetic???

If the project is so secretive then I suggest you obtain a sheet of Unobtanium from ACME Co in Never-Never land - should do the job!

But seriously - how do you expect folk to help when everything pertinent is a secret, and ever suggestion is met with another constraint....and 10 hours have past already so whats the 24hour rush..or is there a magnetic pole flip due this morning?

Sheesh..

Hi Donald,

If you can accept the inevitable slight magnetic susceptibility I would go tor the amazon stainless which fits all of your specifications. Otherwise I would try Tufnol, available in 1mm sheets from direct-plastics.co.uk or another plastic.

Andrew.

Hear hear Joe! Get some 1mm Ali sheet from B&Q and give it a try, come back if it doesn't work.

Totally agree with Joseph, and if you want help have the decency to tell us all about what you are doing, also how about YOU try doing your own research, stop using the typical manager technique of delegating everything and doing nothing yourself. In short tell the complete story of what you are doing, why you are doing it etc. Nobody minds helping people achieve their goals but I suspect this a business venture and in MY opinion you are taking the p**s

What is wrong with hard wood? Like lignum vitae