closed Rhenium ingot, 454g+, 99.95

[JoeLS]

 

Asking $1800. Will consider trading for silver or gold. because of its extremely high melting point, fused ingots of pure rhenium are difficult to fabricate and therefore uncommon, especially in ingots of the size offered here. You will be amazed at the weight of these ingots the first time you lift one. Rhenium has a specific gravity of 20.5, compared to 19.3 for gold.

Rhenium, atomic number 75, shares many properties with the canonical platinum group metals, and sits just to the left of them on the periodic table. Rhenium is rarer than gold, hard, nearly twice as dense as lead, and chemically inert under most conditions. It is mostly used to make "super alloys" with nickel, alloys that can retain their strength at red heat. Blades of jet engine turbines are made from this alloy. Rhenium has the second highest melting point of all metals, 3185°C, which is above the boiling points of iron, silver, and gold.

It has two naturally occurring isotopes, 185Re and 187Re. Interestingly, the dominant isotope,187Re (63%) is unstable. Only one other element, indium, has an unstable  dominant isotope.  Fortunately the half life of 187Re is so long (about 41 billion years) that for all practical purposes it is non-radioactive. It still is useful, however: the decay of 187Re to 187Os is the basis of the rhenium-osmium dating system.

[SilverApe]

What's the weight of the item? Is it 454 grams? 

And, if you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you come by this item?

[JoeLS]

I have several, all slightly (a few grams) over 454 grams.

I buy rhenium in powder or pellet form from reputable suppliers, and have it melted under vacuum into ingots by a company in California.