Gold Plated BeCu Alloy 25

[irodd]

Hi,

I am absolute beginner and have around 3 sq.meters of Gold Plated BeCu Alloy 25, material thickness is 0.002inch .
Gold plating Specification shows 1.27-2.5 microns of thickness, ASTM B 488 Class 1 & 2.
I calculated from 70-140g of gold and decided to recover gold by electrolytic cell method.

Any precautions/tricks because of BeCu Alloy 25?

 

[Geo]

dont drink the electrolyte. :shock: :lol:

dont let the cell run hot and it shouldnt dissolve any base metal. if it does, it will be very little. if you wear safety gear (rubber gloves, eye protection,apron) and be careful not to spill. beryllium enters the body through the lungs from dust inhalation usually but it can still be ingested or absorbed through the skin if dissolved. wash hands after handling any materials , wear gloves to keep solution off your skin and, well, dont drink the green stuff.

 

[Irons2]

Be is very toxic and nothing to fool with, especially when in solution. In my opinion, it's not worth the risk.

Disposing of the waste will cost you many times more than the value of the Gold.

 

[irodd]

Two slightly contradict opinions :roll:
Anyone else?

And MSDS

 

[samuel-a]

Be is actually quite stable when in alloy with Cu.
It's not certain, but i'm quite sure it will not be leached out by sulfuric cell, which in any case you will not touch.

As long as you don't breath Be containing dust/vapors or touch a Be containing solutions, you'r good. That's in effect for any other material though...

Here's the wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium_copper

I suggest before you strart anything, read more here on the forum to learn the basics.

 

[Lou]

It will leach preferentially to the copper.

 

[Harold_V]

It will leach preferentially to the copper.

I would expect that would be true, but only on the surface. The abundance of copper should isolate the low percentage of beryllium, so only a small amount should be dissolved. That, of course, must still be addressed.

Harold

 

[qst42know]

I have used brass for stripping cell anode hooks and clips. At approximately a 70/30 alloy the surface shows only a faint pink color. The copper does a good job protecting the zinc.

Beryllium copper alloys are beryllium in the .5%-3% range, alloy 25 is 2%. How much Be would actually report in the solution?

If you are stripping computer connectors in a cell aren't you likely to already be stripping beryllium copper alloys?

 

[irodd]

Thank you very much gentlemen for your prompt answers.

I suggest before you strart anything, read more here on the forum to learn the basics.

Based on forum/books reading I see this way:

1. Strip gold from base material in Sulphuric Cell
2. Dissolve gold in HCl-Cl= Clorox Method
3. Drop gold from gold solutions using SMB= Sodium Meta Bisulfite
4. Test with SnCl2= Stannous Chloride. If still gold in solution go to p.3
5. Cleand and Wash with Water and HCl acid
6. Dry
7. Melt

Please advise