# Melting Silver Plated Wire



## metatp (Dec 18, 2009)

I thought I saw this posted before, but I cannot find it. I have some silver plated wire about 1.5mm in diameter. I would like re recover the silver, but don't wnat to waste too much nitric acid. Can I just melt the wire (silver and all) and use the silver contaminated copper to drop silver from a silver nitrate solution. I am hoping that by doing this, I use the copper and the small amount of silver will drop with the rest of the silver. I can add a little more nitric acid if needed.

Regards,
Tom


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## lazersteve (Dec 18, 2009)

Since the wire is plated it may be best to melt it into a bus bar and use the bar to cement silver from a silver nitrate solution that you have prepared from sterling silver and nitric acid. 

Leaving it in wire form may allow some of the fine wire pieces to become covered with cemented silver which would shield these small pieces from the solution and stop the cementing action contaminating the cemented silver with tiny bits of copper wire.

The plated wire contains little silver so it would be wasteful to use your nitric directly for dissolving it when you can recover the silver from it as the melted copper alloy will cement a silver nitrate solution and leave the silver portion of the alloy behind.

I'm assuming (perhaps erroneously) that the silver is plated over copper on the wire in question.

Steve


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## metatp (Dec 18, 2009)

Thanks Steve. I thought that's what I read. Yes the wire is copper with silver plating. Now I haveplent of copper, and can recover the silver plating as well.

Thanks again,
Tom


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