This source says the density of Tungsten is 19.25 g/cm3 not 11.34 g/cm3. http://periodictable.com/Properties/A/Density.al.html Possibly due to the difference between a solid rather than a powder???
The package clearly states it is lead and has all the health disclaimers necessary. I equipped a plant 12 years ago that makes wheel weights for automotive. These exhibit the characteristics same as pure poured lead. I believe they are a little more dense than the putty. I am using them for car weights. The putty gets formed into locomotive spaces.
California, Oregon, Michigan, and Washington outlawed lead for automotive use. I engineering 10 production lines to produce replacement steel weights. Then the EPA let off of their push to eliminate lead on a wholesale level. The Lobbyists did their work. Too bad for me or I'd be retired on the coast.
I think you misread my post. The company states that their tungsten powder has a density of 11.5 g/cm3, which I said is about the same as pure, solid lead, at 11.34 g/cm3. The company says their powder can be compressed (without sintering) to more than 15 g/cm3, which must still leave something like 22% air space, because solid tungsten does have a density of 19.25 g/cm3. The questions for us modelers are: (1) How hard it is to compress the powder into that density? Can you do that in the void of a plastic part without breaking the plastic? And (2), how well does penetrating epoxy get into the remaining voids in the powder to stabilize the shape so the loco doesn't end up losing the weight by distributing tungsten powder around our layouts as it vibrates along the tracks?
Given the ability of casting resin to find the minutest of openings I would say the resultant product would still be heavier than lead. And that does not take into account the health hazards of handling lead. Regarding automobile wheel weights I bought a box 1/4 ounce weights at PepBoys. The weights are smooth and a shiny gray color. They do not appear to be lead, at least not the lead I have seen. Maybe coated with something? No description of the ,make up of the weights are on the weights or box. The only identification is "VL312eS-48".
It is likely that wheel weights are not allowed to have lead in many part of the U.S. these days. I always need to check that I don't throw some of those non-lead ones into a pot when I melt wheel weights. Zinc messes with the castability of lead alloys. But, lead is still available as scrap from many locations, and some of it is much closer to pure lead than wheel weights ever were. I have no doubt that something a bit heavier than pure lead could be made from tungsten powder and penetrating epoxy. But, both the powder and the epoxy are expensive. Mixing it as a slurry to pour into a void is probably not going to make something much heavier than (or even as heavy as) pure lead. So, the real question in how much force is needed to make the power compress into a density that is usefully greater than the density of lead? And, there are various type of "penetrating" epoxy, with vastly different penetrating capabilities. One of the penetrating epoxies that I use has so much volatile content that it needs to be use with high ventilation, but it does work great on wood. Lead is not really that dangerous if you don't eat or inhale it. So, wash hands after touching and don't eat, drink or smoke while working with it. Also, melt it outdoors.
