# Ceramic disc capacitors



## Nubs1201 (Oct 5, 2017)

I have read that ceramic disc capacitors contain to discs of silver and are separated by a ceramic disc then it's coated in something. I have tried searching on this forum and others to see if there's been someone who has processed these for silver recovery but I'm coming up blank. Mlcc's seem to be all the rage and I can't find a single thing about these disc ones. Does anyone have any experience or wisdom they could share with this or point me to an old thread I can't seem to find? Is it actually just not worth it or something? Attaching a picture or two so people know what I'm referring to. The pic with multiple items was older but I'm just referring the to the circle disc capacitors


----------



## jimdoc (Oct 5, 2017)

MLCC is what you want to look up. As far as I know those capacitors you show don't have precious metals in them. 

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/search.php?keywords=mlcc


----------



## shmandi (Oct 5, 2017)

I think there should be some silver in all of those, just not sure yet.


----------



## g_axelsson (Oct 5, 2017)

- The green one is a thermistor
- The light blue one is a high voltage filter capacitor (line voltage)
- The dark brown small one is a ceramic capacitor
- The lighter brown small one is a resonator (used in oscillators)
- The dark blue rectangular is a foil capacitor
- The single brown is a ceramic capacitor

There might be silver in any of these but you have to test them to know. Cut it open, apply a drop of nitric acid and cement on a copper wire or use salt to create silver chloride.
The amounts of silver, if there is any, should be too little to make any economical sense to go after, you could just as easily collect brass and copper from component and connector pins.

Components dipped in plastic is almost impossible to identify from look. Markings, the age and where it is used in circuit boards gives clues but testing is the only way to know and learn.

Göran


----------



## Nubs1201 (Oct 5, 2017)

I went looking for a video and finally found it. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=ikMQhZxomDY

This guy did exactly what was just mentioned and tested positive for silver in the disc capacitors. 

These things are always on low grade power boards that I'm picking things off of to begin with so I'm interested to know what amount of silver you could get out of any given amount you try to process. It's just an easy way to collect a silver bearing item in my opinion.


----------



## jimdoc (Oct 5, 2017)

Like the MLCCs, they might not all contain silver, depending on age or intended use.
The copper value in them is probably higher than silver.


----------



## Findm-Keepm (Oct 7, 2017)

_Some_ high quality brands do use a thin silver plate on the electrode-dielectric junction, but they are few. Vishay Class III ceramic discs, the 440 series and maybe a handful of others use the silver - the majority are just plain tin or a tin alloy at the junction. Chasing miniscule amounts of silver is not economical.

I save the tantalum capacitors(buyers here on the board...), the MLCC surface mount types (sell for their palladium content), and the dipped silver mica and molded silver mica types. No others out there with any real recoverable values for me.


----------



## cosmetal (Oct 7, 2017)

Findm-Keepm said:


> _Some_ high quality brands do use a thin silver plate on the electrode-dielectric junction, but they are few. Vishay Class III ceramic discs, the 440 series and maybe a handful of others use the silver - the majority are just plain tin or a tin alloy at the junction. Chasing miniscule amounts of silver is not economical.
> 
> I save the tantalum capacitors(buyers here on the board...), the MLCC surface mount types (sell for their palladium content), and the dipped silver mica and molded silver mica types. No others out there with any real recoverable values for me.



Living here on the "left coast" of the U.S., and all buyers paying any sort of $ at all for mobos and other electronic circuitry being located in the Mid-West, I very quickly discovered that shipping costs to those buyers left me with little profit (if any). So, I had to get into board depopulation in order to densify any future shipments. Getting into board depopulation then led me to "Dang - why ship at all? Just refine!" Now (help!) I'm hooked.

I know of MLCC and TC buyers but I didn't know of any buyers of the mica capacitors. May I ask if you collect these items to sell them or collect to process them yourself? If sell, care to share your outlet with the board and, if to process, your methodology also?  

Thanks,
James


----------



## Findm-Keepm (Oct 7, 2017)

cosmetal said:


> I know of MLCC and TC buyers but I didn't know of any buyers of the mica capacitors. May I ask if you collect these items to sell them or collect to process them yourself? If sell, care to share your outlet with the board and, if to process, your methodology also?
> 
> Thanks,
> James




LazerSteve laid it out many moons ago.....the search function works for me. :mrgreen: 

http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=9163

Cheers,


----------



## cosmetal (Oct 7, 2017)

Dang, again!

Caught in a noobie trap . . . open mouth - insert foot.  

Oh, well. I enjoy reading . . . back to lurking! 

Thanks, 
James


----------

