Rhodium

OK, I'm probably going to get lectured about searching previous posts but where does one find Rhodium in scrap material?

Well just a couple would be the small amount of plating on some old costume jewelry and a small amount in most catalytic converters.
Might also mention some high end electrical contacts can have some. Far and few between but there are some.
OK, now while thinking about it, there were suppose to have been some computer key boards from the early 80's that used it for contact points under the keys.
Also for mirrors in some lasers.

Much white gold jewellery is rhodium plated and some silver jewellery too. Much of rhodiums use is in thermocouples and scientific equipment such as dishes requiring high temperatures and no oxidisation, there are some military uses also. Some catalytic convertors also have rhodium in them.
It's not an element you are going to find in many places or in any quantity and it's not that easy to refine.

Thank you guys. I don't get my hands on that sort of stuff so no worries. I was just concerned that I might be overlooking this in my sort and save operation. From my studies I have learned that PGM is difficult or more complex to recover than most PMs.

If your testing your solutions you should know if you encounter PGMs and if you do simply cement and collect until you have a decent batch to work with.

search Rhodium resistor. seriously! Some thin film resistors contain Rhodium Oxide instead of Ruthenium oxide
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=thin+film+resistor+rhodium+oxide&atb=v55-7_a&ia=web
also fiberglass (due too bushings dust in production), mammography system filters, optics glass, laser mirrors neutron flux monitors, electrical contacts, spark plugs, thermocouple elements, and flat panel glass apparently contains rhodium :G
Before you ask, yes I use anonymous search engines to get around :lol:

The largest amount I have ever found was on an old antique silver bowl from India.
It had been heavily plated in Rhodium.first and last time I have found any in detectable quantity's.

Rougemillenial said:

search Rhodium resistor. seriously! Some thin film resistors contain Rhodium Oxide instead of Ruthenium oxide
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=thin+film+resistor+rhodium+oxide&atb=v55-7_a&ia=web

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I only find patent applications for rhodium oxide in resistors. Do you have any example of an actual product?

Göran

If anyone wants to go through the extreme unprofitable hassle to recover the rhodium from jewelry, I would estimate its value to be quite low, about 3 cents per sq.in. of plated area. Thin film is just what it says it is - THIN films of PMs (usually) evaporated onto an alumina substrate (usually). Ditto on the values.

I usually see it in Type B, S thermocouples, rocket nozzles, nitric acid catalysts. Jet engines also have temperature feed throughs made of 80Pt20Rh.

The rocket nozzles are my favorite.

Lou said:

I usually see it in Type B, S thermocouples, rocket nozzles, nitric acid catalysts. Jet engines also have temperature feed throughs made of 80Pt20Rh.

The rocket nozzles are my favorite.

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I have read about bearings in jet engines being Rhodium.
How thick of a coating do they use?

goldsilverpro said:

If anyone wants to go through the extreme unprofitable hassle to recover the rhodium from jewelry, I would estimate its value to be quite low, about 3 cents per sq.in. of plated area. Thin film is just what it says it is - THIN films of PMs (usually) evaporated onto an alumina substrate (usually). Ditto on the values.

Click to expand...

Unless you had metric tons of material it's not worth it.