# platinum medical wires



## arthur kierski (Jul 2, 2009)

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--these are fotos of pt wires from johnson matteys site---i am going to receive next week a steady supply of this material from hospitals here----did anyone worked with this material to pass me information about its refinement?


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## EDI Refining (Jul 2, 2009)

Depends on purity, The wires I worked with were pure and needed no treatment...


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## lazersteve (Jul 2, 2009)

Arthur,

I have processed the materials in both photos. My yields are consistently 95% Pt by weight. Fire assays of the same scrap support this yield.

The wires are typically coated with a very thing layer of plastic/Teflon that is clear and resists acids.

My youtube platinum refining slide show demonstrates me processing some of the flat platinum alloy wires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9QprlWA-xM

Steve


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## arthur kierski (Jul 2, 2009)

thanks Steve--i saw the link in youtube and when i begin next week i will ask you if i have doubts---first question:do you boil in ar for 5hours or leave it for 5hours cold(straight) and then denox---2nd question:do you have to burn(incinerate) the wire to eliminate the teflon/plastic----? thanks in advance for the answers------Arthur
Peter,thanks for your reply---


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## lazersteve (Jul 2, 2009)

arthur kierski said:


> thanks Steve--i saw the link in youtube and when i begin next week i will ask you if i have doubts---first question:do you boil in ar for 5hours or leave it for 5hours cold(straight) and then denox---2nd question:do you have to burn(incinerate) the wire to eliminate the teflon/plastic----? thanks in advance for the answers------Arthur
> Peter,thanks for your reply---



Arthur,

The round wires are very thin and are the Teflon (?) coated ones. They will need to be safely incinerated to remove the Teflon. I have some of these wires, but have not processed this type yet.

The flat wires that I process in the slide show are much shorter than the round Teflon coated ones and do not need to be incinerated. They are like tiny foils of platinum alloy.

The AR was used hot for a the full 5 hours to complete the dissolution of the flat platinum alloy wires. 

This type of medical scrap is a major source of platinum for me. I've been saving it up for some time now. My supplier knows a guy that works with the cardiac implants at a hospital. He and I talk three or four times a week and I get his scrap platinum about once a month.

Steve


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## arthur kierski (Jul 3, 2009)

Steve : in 5hours boil you will have to put ar many times , if not the dissolved pt will become a crust in the becker-- 
is my remark correct?


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## lazersteve (Jul 3, 2009)

Arthur,

The batch in the slide show was run start to finish with small additions of nitric acid from a dropper bottle over the course of the 5 hour boil. No crust was observed at any time in the process. I started by covering the material with HCl and adding 1/2 of the calculated amount of nitric acid I expected to use ( about 10 mL in this experiment was half ). When the fizzing reaction stopped I would squeeze a small amount of nitric from the dropper bottle repeating as needed over the 5 hour reaction time.

Can you clarify what 'crust' (silver chloride ?) you are referring to.

Steve


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## Oz (Jul 3, 2009)

Arthur,

I have run some Pt that was thicker in cross section than medical wire and over 95% pure without getting a crust.

If I understand you correctly you are concerned that you will boil your reaction dry with the long process time. I have found that doing platinum digestions in an Erlenmeyer flask and putting a glass funnel loosely in the mouth stops the majority of evaporation loss.


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## lazersteve (Jul 3, 2009)

I ran my reaction with a watch glass (ceramic saucer) covering the beaker.

Steve


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## arthur kierski (Jul 3, 2009)

Oz,you are correct ,iwas concerned with the boiling for 5hours and dry the erleenmayer and thus forming a pt(h2ptcl6) crust----Steve ,by crust please understand as boiling the ar solution dry----the watch glass cleared my worries----thanks again to both of you for helping me to clear my doubts.


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