I'm posting in the off chance that someone might know how to identify a mixture I made. I searched to see what I ended up with and got as far as finding out that my initial reaction probably yielded aluminum chloride or hydroxide. Beyond that, I am not sure.
I reacted aluminum metal (cans) with 20 baume hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) in a stainless steel pot. The compound, as expected, yielded a greyish pasty material I intended to boil this off and continue heating the compound to convert it to mostly oxides for a refractory material.
I had the idea of adding some hydrogen peroxide just to see what it would produce, if anything, and I was very surprised at the results. First off, it reacts immediately, giving off what I believe to be hydrogen and oxygen gases (it pops violently when exposed to flame). At first I considered that the peroxide might simply be undergoing a decomposition reaction, but I also got a significant color change. It turns immediately from greyish to extreme yellow. After the reaction completes and it is allowed to settle, it separates into two layers, as pictured. I believe the bottom layer might be mostly aluminum hydroxide, but I cannot even begin to guess what the top layer could be. It is extremely brown, clear, non-flammable (as expected), thin as water, and mostly odorless. Anyone have any idea what it could be?
Edit: I also just discovered that it is immiscible with water, which really blows my mind. The water forms a third layer atop the mystery material. It may not be entirely immiscible as I have not tried to force it to mix, but it definitely does not mix easily.