12L14 Steel 1

[jenr]

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of using mercury in the processing of 12L14 into raw stock? We are having an issue of high levels of mercury in the discharge from a vibratory finisher.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[TVP]

If I understand your question correctly, the answer is mercury is not used during the melting, casting, and rolling of steel. Mercury may be a contaminant in the lead used as the alloying addition to the steel. I would suggest you do the following:

1. Have the supplier of the steel perform a "product" chemical analysis on some of your final parts after vibratory finishing to see if it matches the "heat" chemical analysis that was originally performed.

2. Does the mercury only appear on the surface, or is it uniformly distributed throughout the bulk of the material? If it is the former, investigate the final finishing operations. If it is the former, look into the composition of the lead alloy additions.

 

[jenr]

Thank you for the information. I am not sure if the mercury is only on the surface or distributed throughout the material.

The mercury is showing up in the wastewater discharge from the vibratory finisher. Review of MSDS information for the RotoBrite solution does not indicate the presence of mercury. Therefore, I was investigating the possibility of the steel workpieces as a source of the mercury. (I had read or heard somewhere that mercury is used in the processing of 12L14 into raw stock. Because I am somewhat unfamiliar with the specific details of steel rolling, melting, and casting -- I was not certain of the validity of the use of mercury in these processes.)