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Schnoofles t1_j2bovkn wrote

Reply to comment by IceNein in The nut that defeated its nemesis by tchuruck

This is more of a process issue than materials issue. It's made with a sintered powder process, which always results in a relatively brittle end product. Sometimes that's totally fine because you don't need the full strength of a cast or forged part, but obviously that wasn't the case here.

As for the China association that'd be from the cost correlation. You can find sintered parts made all over the world, but seeing as the cost of labor is also low then anytime someone wants the lowest possible total cost they're likely to get a sintered version that's also made in China.

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Thing_in_a_box t1_j2bpa42 wrote

If it's aluminum, which it looks to be, this isn't too surprising if OP cracks a serious amount of nuts

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newaccount721 t1_j2bxjzn wrote

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but it sounds like these cheap products made this way aren't inherently dangerous - e.. g. containing toxic metals - but just the process used is the cheapest/fastest but not the best. Is that correct?

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Schnoofles t1_j2byi29 wrote

All other things being equal, yes. It's just a (much) cheaper process for when you don't require the highest possible strength in the finished material.

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newaccount721 t1_j2c3ors wrote

Thanks, whenever I get those things and they break easily I am concerned they're not the metal they're claiming to be - but if it's process based it's not great but at least it's not something inherently dangerous

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Schnoofles t1_j2c90ct wrote

Yeah, it's just a simple way to make a part. Instead of fully melting and pouring to a mold you instead dump a powdered form of the metal into it and then use heat and pressure to not fully melt it, but heat it up to where the combined heat and pressure causes the particles to begin fusing. Relatively speaking it's quick, easy, takes less energy and so on. It is quite brittle, however, and not as strong in general since you don't get nice, long grains in the metal.

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t3chg3n13 t1_j2c4rxb wrote

For some reason I thought ave said centered powder all this time

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