Not so precious but still...

[HAuCl4]

http://www.metalprices.com/pubcharts/Public/Cobalt_Price_Charts.asp?WeightSelect=MT&SizeSelect=M&ccs=1&cid=0

Been checking on the prices of all metals. I was surprised to find Nickel and Cobalt so expensive. For some reason I had them in my mind at near the price of iron, maybe a little more... Wrong!. :shock:

 

[glondor]

Are all the metal rods from photocopiers and scanners nickel plated? any one know?

 

[goldsilverpro]

Are all the metal rods from photocopiers and scanners nickel plated? any one know?

Even if they were, one square foot of nickel plated area would only be worth about a nickel (maybe as much as a dime) and it would cost a helluva lot more than that to separate.

 

[rusty]

Are all the metal rods from photocopiers and scanners nickel plated? any one know?

More likely hard chrome such as that used on hydraulic cylinder rams to enhance wear properties, chrome used on automobile bumpers for instance is only for cosmetic purposes.

Did you know that chrome plating causes metal brittleness, there are certain items one should never chrome plate such as a straight axle used on a hot rod or springs.

I think the early Honda Civics were the first auto to have an aluminum block with hard chrome plated cylinders now every manufacture uses this technology with great success. Chainsaws, weed trimmers, motor cycle engines and the list goes on.

Nickel plating as far as I'm aware has only been used to protect a metal surface and for cosmetic purposes, Nickel plating has a yellowish hue to it, beautiful in my opinion and prefer it over chrome any day even if it does not wear as well as chrome.

 

[Harold_V]

Are all the metal rods from photocopiers and scanners nickel plated? any one know?

Did you know that chrome plating causes metal brittleness, there are certain items one should never chrome plate such as a straight axle used on a hot rod or springs.

Not just chrome plating. Hydrogen embrittlement is the problem, and is common when processing heat treated steels. The embrittlement can be eased by roasting the plated item(s) for a prescribed period of time at a temperature which I believe to be 375°F.

Harold

 

[goldsilverpro]

Hydrogen embrittlement is caused by the release of hydrogen gas at the cathode (the part you're plating) and the subsequent absorption of the hydrogen by the steel. Some steels are more susceptible to this than others. As Harold said, this hydrogen can be driven off by heating the part to an exact temperature for an exact time after plating.

Hydrogen is released due to the inefficiency of the plating bath. For example, if the particular bath is 90% efficient (this means that only 90% of the current deposits metal), the other 10% of the current splits water into hydrogen gas (H2) and hydroxyl ion (OH-) at the cathode. Some type baths are are more efficient that others. I'm thinking that most nickel solutions are about 95% efficient. On the other hand, chrome baths are very inefficient - around 35%, I seem to recall. They produce a lot of hydrogen.

Another common source of hydrogen embrittlement is when using cathodic steel cleaners prior to plating. In this case, since no plating takes place, 100% of the current splits water and produces hydrogen. Also, some steels are so susceptible to this that the use of certain acid dips (used to remove scale and oxides) in the pre-plating cleaning cycle can release enough hydrogen to produce embrittlement.

 

[HAuCl4]

GSP: Have you ever put a strong magnet to a nickel plating solution or to a chloride solution of nickel?. I wonder if the salts in solution are atracted and what happens.

 

[FrugalEE]

Good explanation of embrittlement, thanks.

I too checked nickel price recently and was surprised. I realize that trying to recover nickel and sell it is not likely to be economical and melting of it would be difficult, but suppose one actually managed to make some nickel bars. Would one even be able to sell them? I can't imagine very many scrap buyers being set up to even buy nickel alloys like monel, much less something nearly pure nickel. About the best a small scale operation could do is plate nickel rather thickly on to some iron. The scrap yard is then going to consider it normal scrap iron at around 7 cents per pound or stainless and I don't know what that brings, maybe near a $1 per pound.

Ideally if small time refiners want to get rid of some nickel by product it's going to be in the form of a salt. Ideally we could sell it as such, but I know reality is you pay a licensed disposal firm to take it away.

FrugalEE

 

[rusty]

GSP: Have you ever put a strong magnet to a nickel plating solution or to a chloride solution of nickel?. I wonder if the salts in solution are atracted and what happens.

I suspect nothing would happen, the nickel salts would pass through a magnetic field without notice, same as golf (Auric Chloride ) will pass through a metal detector un-noticed.

 

[HAuCl4]

Wikipedia says the salts are "paramagnetic". I do not know if they show this behavior as dry salts or in solution. I was hoping someone had tried putting a strong magnet to them and I'm curious what would happen. I know a strong magnet will make a piece of iron or a coin jump out of the water. Dunno about the salts.

Anyway, here's a link to a site that sells strong magnets and very affordable pyrex labware.

http://www.indigo.com/magnets/gphmgnts/Nd-cube-magnets.html

 

[turtlesteve]

OK, on the magnetic field issue:

Salts dissolved in solution will not react strongly* to magnetic fields. Magnetism results from alignment of electron spins - ions in solution are separated from each other, and their spins do not interact with each other hence no discernible magnetism.

Also, remember because magnetism is determined by structure - iron, nickel, etc. will not always be magnetic - they must exist in a structure where alignment of the spins is favorable.

For those more interested in materials science:

*All materials interact with magnetic fields. Those substances which are diamagnetic or paramagnetic interact so weakly that the effect is not easily discernible (however, this effect is of great importance to my current graduate research). Diamagnetic materials (water, graphite, bismuth are good examples) are actually repelled by magnets, but only weakly so.

Ferri- and Ferro-magnetic materials (those that we perceive as attracted to magnets) have 2 requirements: The first is unpaired electrons (i.e. atoms or appropriately charged ions in the d-block or f-block of the periodic table). The second is exchange interactions (quantum-mechanical in nature) that favor parallel alignment of electron spins. These interactions are regulated by crystal structure, such that they are turned on or off for certain elements depending on the crystal they are in. So, Fe(0), Fe2+ and Fe3+ have free spin, but not all materials containing them are magnetically active. Iron is magnetic, stainless steel is not, etc. These interactions are short range, so separation of the magnetic ions (i.e. in a dilute concentration in solids or liquids) results in collapse of the aligned spin structure.

Steve

 

[HAuCl4]

Thanks Steve. 8)

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Iron is magnetic, stainless steel is not, etc.

Steve

Some stainless steel is magnetic.

 

[HAuCl4]

Iron is magnetic, stainless steel is not, etc.

Steve

Some stinless steel is magnetic.

Paitence is a virtue. = Patience is a virtue.

stinless=stainless

:lol:

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Iron is magnetic, stainless steel is not, etc.

Steve

Some stinless steel is magnetic.

Paitence is a virtue. = Patience is a virtue.

stinless=stainless

:lol:

Thanks

 

[Fournines]

Go to the bank and get a roll of nickels. Each nickel is currently worth 6.2 cents in metal. http://coinflation.com/.

Instant 24% ROI.

And you don't have to do anything.

 

[HAuCl4]

Go to the bank and get a roll of nickels. Each nickel is currently worth 6.2 cents in metal. http://coinflation.com/.

Instant 24% ROI.

And you don't have to do anything.

I have seen that phenomenon of dissappearing coin supply several times in the "third world" where the local economy would run out of coins. It was always followed by HUGE % devaluations of the local currency.

As a child I saw it with silver coins, then it was nickel, then it was nickel-copper alloys. I still have some of those silver coins (too few to account for anything) that I intuitively considered worth hoarding.

Never thought it would happen in the "first world". Things are changing for sure... :shock:

 

[HAuCl4]

Is nickel jewellery an option for jewellers?. With some rhodium plating maybe it can look beautiful and not tarnish like silver. :idea:

Opinions?.

 

[Fournines]

Lots of people have allergies to nickel.

 

[HAuCl4]

Another idea to the trashcan then!. :lol: