Some Uses for Sulphur

Post date: 16-Nov-2012 12:34:59

If you heat sulphur it becomes molten at quite a low temperature (115 C ). In this molten state sulphur can be used as a glue or cement. 

My father told me that when fencers struck an outcrop of rock that had to be crossed they would use sulphur to attach the steel standards into the rock. After making a hole a few inches deep with a hammer and tap they would cut the standard to the appropriate length, stand it in the hole, They would then heat the sulphur over a fire in a "deep ladle" and pour it in. When it cooled the standard would be securely held in place. He said that if plant debris blew up against the fence and you had a bush fire the sulphur could ignite and burn. When he told me this, over 50 years ago, he intimated that that was "olden days" practice, and the "modern" method was to avoid the rocky outcrops and go round them. I'm not aware of having seen any fences done in this manner.                                                                                      (update) In August 2024 I was told of an example of this: a fence running across rock outcrops near White Cliffs (NSW) with flat steel posts set in holes with sulphur.

Sulphur in its crystalline state

The Overland Telegraph Line from Northampton to Roebourne was constructed by Henry Stuart Cary and Charles Danvers Price between June 1883 and 1885. The telegraph poles were in two sections, the tapered steel pole set into a cast iron base. On the section near Roebourne the bases have cast into them Siemens Bros & Co. London No 101. Legrand & Sutcliffe Patentees. 

Once again sulphur was used to lock the two sections together. The base has a stepped hole in the top into which the tapered pole is set leaving a gap that is filled with molten sulphur. Once cooled and solidified this creates a very effective joint between the two parts. 

One of the advantages of sulphur over cement or concrete for these two applications is not needing water, which in the case of the Overland Telegraph Line, was pretty scarce. 

I have a friend who did his electrical apprenticeship in Queensland in the 1960s. He tells me that when they made a concrete mounting block for a generating set they would form the holes for the hold down bolts. After the concrete had cured and the formwork removed the generator and engine would be put into position on the block. Mounting bolts would be stood in the holes previously formed in the concrete and molten sulphur would be poured into hold the bolts. He says the reason for this is the sulphur resists vibration better than if the bolts were cast directly into the concrete. 

We used to use sulphur in the concrete testing laboratory at Karratha. You put concrete into cylindrical steel moulds, then when it has cured you remove the concrete cylinders and crush them in a press to measure the compressive strength. The top of these concrete cylinders are often rough or not level and need to be trued to get an accurate result. Sulphur was heated in an electric frypan and a small amount was poured into a heavy steel dish and the inverted test cylinder was lowered into it. The dish had a guide mounted on one side to ensure the cylinder remained perpendicular while the sulphur was setting. This resulted in a flat cap on the cylinder which ensured equal pressure over the whole surface when it was being crushed. These days I think a reusable hard rubber cap is used instead. 

Burning sulphur melts to blood red, and burns with a blue flame

I would be interested in hearing of other mechanical uses for sulphur. 

Thanks to Geoff  E.

Being one of the most common elements, sulphur (or sulfur if you are from the US, although this spelling has now been officially adopted by all English speaking countries, apparently), occurs in many different compounds. It is an essential part of life, being found in many proteins including skin and hair. 

It is an essential ingredient in wine making, as Sulphur Dioxide, or SO2, is the main preservative used. It is in pesticides and fungicides, sulphuric acid, many of the so-called sulphur drugs, and food dyes. Overall a very versatile substance when combined with other elements. 

For a full rundown on sulphur, see the Wikipedia article on it, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur

Another unexpected use for sulphur was making casts of footprints in snow. Sulphur melts at about 120 deg C but gives out so little heat in the process, and changes size so little, that it can give an accurate cast for forensic purposes. I suppose that nowadays you might use a two part resin, but many of these give off heat and set fairly slowly.

Thanks to Brian from TATHS

Recently I saw a suggestion on the UK Workshop Hand Tools forum that sulphur could also be used for fitting handles to rasps, files, chisels and the like, so thought I'd give it a go.

Starting with a rat tail rasp and a wooden handle I step-drilled the hole to the length of the tapered tang. 1/3rd from the bottom the diameter of the slim end of the tang, the other 2/3rds the diameter of the mid point of the tang. Heating the tang to a dull red I pushed it into the handle causing it to burn the hole to the shape of the tang.

After the rasp and handle had cooled off I filed some cross hatching on the tang (Pic1) and filled the hole in the handle with finely powdered sulphur. (Pic2) 

Our website article tells us that sulphur liquifies at 115 - 120 C so caution had to be shown here, dull red, I'm thinking, is a lot hotter than 115 - 120C so using the oxy torch I heated the tang until I thought I could just see a tinge of colour. I should mention here that I was also rugged up in leather apron, gloves and face shield because I didn't really know what was going to happen next. 

I had the handle clamped upright in the vise and when I saw the tinge of colour in the tang I jammed it into the handle, the sulphur instantly started bubbling then ignited and burnt for about a minute with a pretty blue flame. (Pic3) 

I let it cool overnight and the following morning cleaned off the residue ( Pic 4) and gave it a try out. The fact that the sulphur ignited makes me think the tang was too hot but the handle seems to be securely connected so time will tell if this experiment was a success. 

Geoff E. July 2024.