Inquarting

[maynman1751]

Maybe a stupid idea, but I'm still going to ask. Could I inquart karat gold with gold filled that I have? It seems like I would be killing two birds with one stone. I need to inquart the gold and also need to dissolve the base metals from the gold filled. Both materials (the gold filled and the karat gold) need the base metals to be digested with nitric. Wouldn't this save on the nitric usage? Why do separate procedures when both materials could be processed together? I realize that it may be difficult to determine the quantity of gold filled required to get the correct ratio for proper inquartation of the karat gold. I can always add an excess of filled. I'm also unsure of how or if gold filled would melt and blend while trying to inquart. I'm not trying to develop a new process, just asking if it's possible.

 

[Geo]

Personally, I think it's a bad idea. Gold filled can have any number of base metals involved including tin. As we all know, nitric acid and tin metal does not play well together.

 

[Harold_V]

I agree with Geo. How gold is attached to the base metal in gold filled material can leave a lot to be desired where the refiner is concerned. It can contain tin and lead, neither of which are a good idea to combine with your gold. You're much better served to dissolve the gold filled articles without melting, although I heartily recommend one incinerate first. In my opinion, there can be no end to the problems you create just by melting gold filled.

One of the issues I faced on the rare occasion when I melted gold filled was having the resulting gold crumble beyond stable bits. Miniscule particles got suspended in the dilute nitric solution, creating more problems than were acceptable. Keep in mind, I ran a fair amount of gold filled materials, in particular, thousands of pairs of eye glasses.

When you inquart properly, the resulting alloy will dissolve readily, keeping the gold contained within as a (honeycombed) single piece. I even avoided breaking it up, so particles didn't get suspended, lengthening the time it took to allow the solution to settle so it could be decanted. That may or may not be an issue for you, but the assurance of not losing any gold was, in my opinion, worth the slightly greater amount of nitric I might consume. Time, for me, was of the essence.

If you don't mind creating colloidal particles when you digest the base metals, sure, use gold filled for inquarting. It does work. I just think it's a false economy.

Harold

 

[maynman1751]

Thank You Jeff and Harold for your response. I felt that there may be issues and that's why I asked.

 

[richoc]

The way I perfer deal with gold filled is in a sulfur cell.
Gold filled it just a heavy gold coating.
Best case is that the coating gold equals ten percent of the mass of the part, by law.....
Unless the coating is 24 k it will work,leaving you the stripped part.
If coating is nickle shinny color the better, if the uncovered surface is copper it can contain tiny amounts of gold from molecular migration but that is not what I will discuss here.
That how I would deal with the gold filled product.

 

[Palladium]

At $3.50 a gallon i will take nitric all day long. Down and dirty! You can't beat it.

 

[kurtak]

At $3.50 a gallon i will take nitric all day long. Down and dirty! You can't beat it.

I agree

Kurt

 

[Silver Sliver]

At $3.50 a gallon i will take nitric all day long. Down and dirty! You can't beat it.

Palladium,

I am not at the point where I am ready to order chemicals as I still have a lot of reading and learning to do, but I have stared looking around so I know where to order my chemicals when the time comes. I have not been able to find nitric acid anywhere close to this price yet. Would you be willing to share where you get it for 3.50 a gallon? Thanks!