Contactors. Possible cadmium.

[Aog]

Hi iv been offered 5 kg of contactors. They show allsorts of metals when tested with a niton xrf. Is it likely there is cadmium in this loblot. It didnt flag up on xrf. But i doubt there is platinum in there as the results show. Any ideas on this would be great.

Xrf results are
Fe 0.43
Ni 2.77
Cu 2.56
Zn 17.71
Se 1.07
Ru 0.070
Ag 69.3
Pt 6.07

Many thanks.

 

[patnor1011]

Some contacts in relay switches can be platinum plated.

 

[Geo]

actually, it sort of depends on the size of the contacts. if the points are less than a quarter of an inch in diameter, its unlikely they contain Cadmium. never take it for granted that thats the case.always assume they do contain the heavy metal and take safety precautions.

 

[nickvc]

The trouble with xrf readings is they usually fill in any missing % with the material it has calibrated close to it, I had some gold plated material which showed just about every common PGM in it according to the xrf, I knew it was wrong so I didn't waste my time or chemicals chasing them.
Looking at the breakdown you show it sort of makes sense but I wouldn't trust them to base your buying on, get a proper assay done or dissolve a small sample and test with stannous to see if any platinum is actually present, at that % you could get badly burnt if it's not there and your paying for it. As Geo pointed out it's better to assume cadmium is present than not to, it's not user friendly!

 

[lazersteve]

Tungsten and Tantalum can commonly show as Pt on XRF and vice verse with various calibration standards.

Steve