Tektronix - metal determination

[nivrnb]

To All,

Wanted to see if anyone is familiar with this piece of electronic and what the composition is. I believe it is silver plate. The information on the larger piece is a Tektronix 2072 Mhz 2nd converter PN 1191096-02. The smaller on is Salisbury Engineering inc. ID-9-7500-X500 M/M, 67021 D.C 9518, Serial No. PO26-14. Not asking for anyone to research, just seeing if anyone has ever processed one of these.

Thanks,
nivrnb

 

[goldsilverpro]

I've seen a lot of that type material but have never processed any. Most I've seen is silver plate on brass but some is silver plate on aluminum. Ag on Al can easily be stripped with 50/50 nitric acid. Ag on brass can't be stripped with nitric but it looks like this proprietary stripper from Technic would work. However, it would probably be expensive. If anyone knows what the active chemical is in this stripper, it would be wonderful if they shared that information.

 

[Lou]

It's an RF wave guide as we called them, usually from telephony stuff--my experience is that they were all aluminum and plated inside and out, some painted over the silver with a flaky paint. Ran $3-5/lb at 38 silver as I recall.

 

[RikkiRicardo]

I've seen a lot of that type material but have never processed any. Most I've seen is silver plate on brass but some is silver plate on aluminum. Ag on Al can easily be stripped with 50/50 nitric acid. Ag on brass can't be stripped with nitric but it looks like this proprietary stripper from Technic would work. However, it would probably be expensive. If anyone knows what the active chemical is in this stripper, it would be wonderful if they shared that information.

Hi goldsilverpro
at my lab we have been experimenting with iodine and it works at stripping from all metals also the iodine can be reused what I'm trying to setup at this time is a container with a stirring rod this will make it work faster i will keep you informed on this project.also the iodine must be away from light and cold.

RikkiRicardo

 

[rshartjr]

It's an RF wave guide as we called them, usually from telephony stuff--my experience is that they were all aluminum and plated inside and out, some painted over the silver with a flaky paint. Ran $3-5/lb at 38 silver as I recall.

I agree with Lou. Most of the Tektronix stuff I repaired and maintained was silver (and sometimes, gold) plated aluminum. Some of the heavier stuff, though, was often brass (sometimes, steel). One of those cover plates appears to have brass tuning screws. That one may be plated brass, as engineers, typically, avoid mixing dissimilar metals in order to prevent galvanic corrosion. One way to be sure is to nick an edge with a file to expose the substrate.

Scott