# power connector



## timmyhartsing (Mar 10, 2016)

anybody process these before any thoughts on pm recovery and yeilds


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## alexxx (Mar 10, 2016)

I had a good yield from those. No numbers since mixed with other material.
Plating is thick. copper underneath.

It's like a sandwich of plated copper bars glued to each other, with a white plastic film between them.
You can split them open with your hands. Should incinerate first and you'll see twice the surface area plated...

If I remember correctly, those I found on older IBM server power supply boards.


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## Anonymous (Mar 11, 2016)

Alexx is spot on, even as to where they come from 8) 

It's a good plate thickness but you need a lot of them to get a visible amount of gold. 

Also take a long hard look at how you process them. That's a lot of copper to dissolve.


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## alexxx (Mar 11, 2016)

Maybe a basic deplating cell will do the trick fast.
Big chunks and good surface area. 

I processed them with nitric back in the days.

This material may contain a fair amount of berrylium, I would avoid melting it right away.


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## g_axelsson (Mar 11, 2016)

I can't see any reason to make a power connector out of beryllium oxide. A connector should never get warm and if heat was a problem, copper would conduct heat a lot better than beryllium oxide.

Beryllia is used for applications where a lot of heat is generated in a small area and it has to be electrically isolated.

Göran


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## alexxx (Mar 11, 2016)

g_axelsson said:


> I can't see any reason to make a power connector out of beryllium oxide. A connector should never get warm and if heat was a problem, copper would conduct heat a lot better than beryllium oxide.
> 
> Beryllia is used for applications where a lot of heat is generated in a small area and it has to be electrically isolated.
> 
> Göran



From what I have observed playing with old IBM gold plated beryllium components, and from assays (and also from a few penalties sending material to refiners), There is an enormous use of beryllium copper into older IBM gold plated copper parts. Was used for many reasons, mainly to prevent sparking but mostly to obtain a highly ductile gold plated copper component. The worst are the older IBM gold contacts made like springs, they are loaded with beryllium so they keep their flexibility over time. 

I wouldn't be surprised at all if this specific piece contained beryllium.


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## g_axelsson (Mar 12, 2016)

My mistake, you were talking about copper beryllium alloys. I thought you were talking about the white ceramic beryllia.

Göran


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