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Watch as snowball survives 1,100 degrees of molten steel

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Published by: iFactory Support, March 25, 2016

When confronted with the question: “what are the chances of a snowball surviving in temperatures of up to 1,100ºC?” even ShapeCUT’s highly qualified metal cutting technicians might be tempted to say: “zero”.However, on watching the video, you’re going to have to redefine your preconceived ideas of what is possible and what isn’t, as a compacted globe of pure white snow is submerged in a vat of molten steel before somehow being pulled out fully intact. This is snow joke, watch the video and be amazed!

OK, so the snowball boasted a little bit of outside help, in the form of a 3D-printed plastic sphere, designed using nickel and alumina-silicate. This sphere was then coated in dry ice, before being plunged into the unforgiving depths of the boiling liquid metal.

GE, who thrive on changing perceptions and technology in a variety of industrial sectors, carried out the experiment, conducted in conjunction with the anniversary of Thomas Edison’s birth, to showcase how heat-resistant certain materials – used in aeronautics and nuclear structures – are.

In this case, the bubbling molten steel contained in the vat was unable to affect the inside temperature of the 3D-printed sphere, and therefore the snowball was able to remain at a glacial temperature of -100ºC. It looks like we’re going to have to take suggestions to replace the often-uttered phrase, ‘a snowball’s chance in hell’ – because we reckon this sphere of frozen ice would have a fairly good time down in Satan’s domain.

If you like seeing people do cool stuff with steel (which, if you’re reading this, we’re guessing you do!), you’ll love the services we provide here at ShapeCUT.

For over two decades, we’ve been providing precision steel cutting services to manufacturers in a variety of industries. OK, we can’t stop a snowball melting in molten steel, but we can employ a range of cutting-edge technologies to ensure the highest quality steel cuts imaginable. To see what we can do for your business, give us a call today.