Alvaro Mendoza, PhD

Metallurgist

Alvaro Mendoza, Ph.D., is a Metallurgist and the Owner of Mendoza Metallurgy in Portland, Oregon. With over 15 years of professional and research experience, Dr. Mendoza has worked in the aerospace industry in forging, casting, metal-making, and additive manufacturing primarily with nickel-based superalloys, titanium and steels. He currently runs a metallurgical consulting and education business that focuses on providing technical expertise to businesses of any size. He was recently featured on a podcast about why metallurgy matters. Dr. Mendoza received his B.S. and M.S. and Ph.D in Materials Science and Engineering, focus on Metallurgy from the University of Florida.

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Co-authored Articles (10)

How to

Build a Metal Melting Furnace for Casting

If you want to cast metal into different shapes, you need to have a furnace that gets hot enough to melt the metal. While you can buy premade furnaces, you can also make your own using an insulated garbage can. Start by ...

How to Cast Metal: Building & Filling a Custom Mold

Create personalized metal art, tools, and more with this DIY metal casting guide Metal casting is an ancient crafting process where you pour molten metal into a custom mold to create objects like coins, swords, and jewel...

How to Quickly Turn Copper Darker

A guide to making brown & green copper patinas Copper is a brightly colored metal often used for decorative purposes, including furniture, artwork, and jewelry. Over time, the surface of copper will react with oxygen, he...

How to Age Brass for a Worn, Antique Look

DIY tips to achieve the look of a naturally aged brass item at home New brass is a shiny golden color, but over time it darkens and takes on a green, brown, or reddish patina. This happens when two things occur: oxidizat...

How to

Anneal Copper

Annealing copper makes it softer and less brittle, which allows you to bend it without breaking it.. 4 April 2023. This malleability allows you to hammer and mold the copper into any shape you wish without cracking the m...

How to Change the Color of Metal with Paint, Heat, or Dyeing

Learn to add color to metal with these DIY methods Colored metal makes for beautiful decorations and artwork. But have you ever wondered how it’s done? As it turns out, there are multiple methods for changing the color...

How to

Powder Coat

Powder coating is a process of coating metal with a plastic finish applied in powder form and baked to a fluid state to bond it to the metal surface. Powder coating has many advantages over traditional liquid coating: It...

How to

Braze Aluminum

Knowing how to braze aluminum can be a useful skill for anyone who is faced with a variety of at-home repairs. Brazing aluminum is a quick and inexpensive option for repairing leaks, cracks, or holes in aluminum and is o...

How to

Identify an Original Copper Bottle

Copper water bottles are a sleek alternative to regular bottles, boasting a lot of different health benefits. While most of these claims are unproven, some evidence suggests that water bottles made of real copper can kil...

How to

Cast Brass

Brass is made by combining copper and zinc at high temperatures. Brass can be cast into many things like house numbers, door knobs etc. It can be a bit of a complex process to melt the brass, but casting it isn't too dif...