A Description of Molten Aluminum Poured onto Rusty Steel

The following is a description of melting aluminum. In the shop we have a pot that we welded up that has stainless steel sides and a mild steel bottom with an eight-inch handle. This pot is heavy duty with ¼ inch-thick sides and the bottom is about 3/8 inch thick. We put the aluminum pieces (these pieces were about ½”x 3” x 4”) in the pot and then began to heat the pot with an oxygen/acetylene torch. As the pot and aluminum were heated we noted some changes. As more heat was applied the color of the steel changed to a deep red and then continued to an orange color as the heat increased. The aluminum on the other hand changes very little in appearance when heat is applied.