As a doctor who wants to make the right diagnosis, the welder must also, analyze the situation before determining the right medication that will allow him to reach the desired result. To make a proper analysis you need to know the base material; it is imperative to have knowledge of what the material consists of, that you want to weld. A mistake in the material identification could be very costly. In the following article we will inform you of some metals that are often confused such as aluminum, zinc and magnesium.
With the eye, it is almost impossible to differentiate between these three steels, because it is their properties that identify what type of metal it is.
Here is a chart showing their differences :
| Element | Symbole | Point of fusion | Density at 27⁰C (g/cm3) |
| Aluminum | Al | 660⁰C | 2,70 |
| Magnesium | Mg | 649⁰C | 1,74 |
| Zinc | Zn | 420⁰C | 7,14 |
| Iron | Fe | 1540⁰C | 7,86 |
We can see that for a same metal volume the weight of the zinc is more than two time higher than aluminum or magnesium and is similar to the one of iron or steel. The point of fusion of the zinc is approximately 2/3 the one of aluminum and magnesium.
Now, how to concretely differentiate magnesium from aluminum. It is possible to find a quick answer to this question. You just need to make a very simple chemical reaction test. The magnesium reacts with table vinegar. You just need to put a little bit of vinegar on a corner of a well cleaned part. If the vinegar reacts with the part (it is possible to see little bubble formation on the part surface), if this is the case, we have magnesium. If there is no reaction we have an aluminum alloy.
