arthur kierski
Well-known member
how one would extract pd from wures containing PD---any initial sugestion is welcome
4metals wouldn't you try copper electrolysis?
4metals said:Generally speaking electroplated wires have an even plating thickness because they are usually plated on a continuous feed circuit so the wire basically stays in a continuous length and transfers from reel to reel while being dipped in different baths to be cleaned, plated and rinsed before being rewound on the last reel.
I would try to repeat the process by using a warm dilute nitric solution to see if the time exposed to the acid is consistent to strip to bare copper. Then it's just a matter of playing with temperature and nitric concentration to get a workable time to strip to the copper base and no more. I will be guessing here but I believe the Pd was put on as a thin deposit to prevent any electrical degradation from tarnishing of a heavier plated Ag layer beneath.
To strip just the plating will save a lot of fumes and acid and give you clean copper to sell. Is this stuff still wound on coils? That could make it easier.
There is no way to identify them (the Ag from the Pd) just by looking them & you don't need to anyway (in order to separate the Ag ones from the Pd ones for processing)
Why ? --- because first off they are ether silver - or they are Pd - & the acid (nitric) will separate them for you --- now I know everyone is going to say - "wait a minute Kurt if you put Ag points in nitric along with Pd points isn't it just going to dissolve both the Ag & the Pd"
The answer to that is both yes & no --- but "by far" more no then yes - if you do it right - you can dissolve all of the copper/brass & Ag away leaving behind (un-dissolved) just the Pd points - only a very small "trace" amount of Pd will going into solution
How can that be ? --- it has to do with the reactive series & the "potential" of the acid (nitric) to work on the metals its trying to dissolve --- it is true that nitric will dissolve Pd - but its "potential" to do so is VERY low (slight) compared to nitric's "potential" to dissolve copper/brass &/or Ag
Pd is "much less reactive" to the nitric then the copper/brass & Ag --- it takes a "great deal" more time - along with heat - to dissolve pure Pd with nitric compared to that of copper/brass &/or Ag
So you can use "that fact" to make the separation of the "pure" Pd points from the Ag points with the nitric - here is what you do (I will be providing pics along with this which will take several postings)
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