kurtak
Well-known member
The wash procedure says to add water to HCl and ammonia when performing washes with them. Is there any advantage to adding water to HCl or ammonia when performing washes as opposed to washing in concentrated HCL or ammonia? Just curious as to why water is combined with the chemical used for washing. I realized that I haven't been adding water to the chemicals used for washing, and also don't know the ratio of water to HCl/ammonia for washing.
I always do my HCl wash with full strength (31/32 %) HCl - full strength will dissolve most base metal drag down including trace drag down of AgCl --- dilute HCl is less likely to do so
any true salts (not the same as oxides) should dissolve in the water wash
you only need to wash with ammonia if you suspect more then a trace amount of AgCl drag down other wise the ammonia wash is not needed
Kurt