Blending mill scale & plastic to make boat anchors

A. Hi Kenneth,

Re your anchors ... firstly ain't them thar things nice & heavy?

No, don't consider a thermoplastic resin unless it's a so-called Plastisol ... where you dip said, but slightly warmed anchor, into a thick PVC gunk and then, when it's drip dry, you have to cure it in an oven.

The other alternative is a thermosetting resin ... but either way, I'd be afraid of cutting into said resin or Plastisol.

If you used a thermoset, check with the local supplier... you can get aliphatic, polyester and vinyl ester resins (epoxy is too expensive and a bit of a pig to work with) but I'd guess that the ordinary aliphatic resin would be the least expensive ... why use the more expensive but
corrosion resistant resins?

Them's yer choices, Sir .... and I hope that you'll find this data of some help.

A. This might be too obvious an answer, and rejected for some reason, but why not make your anchors of steel?
Its dense enough to sink well, very strong (more than most composites, lead, or whatever), but it does rust.
So many manufacturers galvanize their anchor products. This gives effective corrosion protection for many years, and is resistant to mechanical damage.

A. Before spending too much time and effort I would talk to some sailors. You may have difficulty selling them on the idea of a plastic anchor.

A. An interesting idea! I can see some sense it the concept as mill scale is a hazardous waste that has to be paid for to be disposed of. However, if it can be used as a feedstock for another product, it becomes a sellable item and saves on disposal costs - clearly a win-win situation. I suspect the trick to the idea's success will be to get the density of the binding polymer sufficiently high with the mill scale to allow the plastic composite to act as an anchor.