Fantasma4500 - 25-1-2015 at 05:14
happened to get the idea of seperating chromium and nickel by electrodepositing the metals from their chlorides, starting up with stainless steel and
HCl
having once sought for a metal container that can last a hot fire i realized how useful it would be if it could be made easily at home.. decided to
dissolve some stainless steel sponge in HCl and put my PSU with some stainless steel pieces into the solution, one as anode other as cathode. i saw
tear on the anode, which i did expect, but on the cathode i saw some needly metal pieces standing out, they were more or less fragile and broke off
when hit against something, or well just pushed
i know a computer power supply isnt very ideal for electrodepositing metals, as they usually run at about 20A although 5V, i dont really have anything
smaller than that at the moment, but i imagine if the electrodepositing could be controlled stainless steel scrap could be dissolved in an given acid
and be electrodeposited onto for instance a tin can, to be later used in melting metals and still withstand powerful direct heating, i couldnt find
anything on stainless steel electrodepositing, but have anyone tried similar or could perhaps try with a much weaker power supply?
WGTR - 25-1-2015 at 08:50
The electrodeposition of an iron/nickel/chromium alloy is actually quite difficult. The metals don't want to deposit together. It takes complexing
agents, exact proportions of the various salts, temperature control, and currrent density control. Even then, I wasn't able to find a way that would
give more than a 5-10 mil thick coating. On a good day, one still needs an SEM to characterize the results.
If you can find a way to do this better, then patent it. This is a difficult problem. It's not like plating copper, which is so easy that it almost
plates itself. I have a journal reference in my cabinet that offers a method for plating stainless alloys. I know where it is, but I'm not in the
lab right now. If you're interested, I can link to it later.
Fantasma4500 - 25-1-2015 at 13:49
only if its not an stretch for you, but may i ask what volt/amp you were electrodepositing at and what possible complexing agents could be used?
doesnt sound like something thats easy to get hold of..