Background:
About year ago, I was planning to make some Lithex. Bought both lithium perchlorate and hexamine. And then went to home depot to buy a frying pan. I
remembered what Liptakov said in LL8 thread:
Caution, do not use Teflon for drying. LiP immediately reacts with Teflon at 80 ° C and begins to blacken.
[Edited on 24-1-2022 by Laboratory of Liptakov]
So I chose the most cheap, tiny pan. Maybe it's for small pancakes or some special model for poor undergrads who lost their stipend, don't know. (Local pancakes are thin but huge; small are Western perversion of a whole pancake idea)
Pan surface wasn't clean steel, but I assumed that there can't be PTFE on such cheap one, and that it's some decorative paint.
Guess what? I was proven wrong: the moment I added LiP to heated pan, it started decomposing. So there must be at least some teflon here.
Now I'm trying to remove the coating. Tried dissolving it with household-grade acetone (cause it's most likely not pure teflon), failed. Tried
scraping it of with sandpaper, steel brush and flat screwdriver, it kind of works but scratches metal surface (also eww, hard physical
labor+not-so-healthy dust).
So, the question:
Is there some clever way to remove fluoroplast-based non-stick coating from a pan?
Like some strong solvent to dissolve it back to the stone age?
[Edited on 16-9-2023 by EF2000]Twospoons - 16-9-2023 at 01:42
2 minutes with Google and you would know you are already using the best (and likely safest) method: abrasive + elbow grease. Unless you have some
perfluorinated elbow grease? EF2000 - 16-9-2023 at 02:57
2 minutes with Google and you would know you are already using the best (and likely safest) method: abrasive + elbow grease. Unless you have some
perfluorinated elbow grease?
Alright, thought so. I have been going to continue scraping anyway, just asked here in case someone has better plan, like "mate, just heat it with
magnesium powder and see how quickly it'll burn off" or something like that. (Also DuckDuckGo >> Yes we spy, Inc.)BromicAcid - 16-9-2023 at 04:29
Molten sodium hydroxide?clearly_not_atara - 16-9-2023 at 05:30
Attachment: TeflonSolubility.pdf (903kB) This file has been downloaded 210 timesRainwater - 16-9-2023 at 05:44
Is there some clever way to remove fluoroplast-based non-stick coating from a pan?
LiP seams to work well.
Without buying anything, high heat (+350c) then dunking in water and elbow grease
For about 10 bucks https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-Stainless-Steel-10-Piec...
These work reasonably well for molten sodium, potassium and lithium but being a walmart stainless steel, they are magnetic, which means they are not
stainless steel.
They will eventually corrode from high heat, but so will everythingTwospoons - 16-9-2023 at 14:26
they are magnetic, which means they are not stainless steel.
There are ferromagnetic stainless steels - typically 400 series alloys.
But 304 is usually used for cookware, and isn't ferromagnetic.EF2000 - 17-9-2023 at 00:09
Breaking news from the frontline: PTFE forces are defeated by some dummy with dish scourer.
Thank you all for reassuring that abrasives are the easiest way! After a bit of scraping and sandpaper-ing, I decided to go into full-scale offensive
and went to the kitchen. About 2 hours or so of scouring with steel dish scourer and washing soda, I removed most of coating. Hardest part was the
sides, main part on the bottom got away really quickly.
Then I sandpapered what remained and polished it a bit with GOI paste (chromium(III) oxide-based abrasive, one of the
finest parts of Soviet legacy, along with Soyuz rockets and smoothbore tank cannons. Served me well for cleaning spot rust from my training
sword).
Then washed paste remains away with ordinary dish washing liquid.
Well, I think it's success: pan shines in the sun, fluoroplast is gone and I didn't choose slippery consumerist way. Thanks again for your suggestions
and support! (Handle says: "Not for food!") charley1957 - 17-9-2023 at 07:09
(Handle says: "Not for food!")
Nice touchDr.Bob - 17-9-2023 at 10:25
If you really want to destroy the non-stick coating, just let my wife use it a couple of times, she can scratch it up good and peel it right off.
:-)
