[TheForge] Electrolytic rust reclaiming

[Dave Brown]

At 12:53 10/29/02 -0500, you wrote:
>I'm no expert on this.  I'm only applying my knowledge of chemistry.
>
>Iron III oxide is red.  Iron II oxide is black.  Rust is iron III oxide, 
>Fe2O3.  Scale is iron II oxide, FeO.  I SUSPECT the black is FeO.

This is consistent with what my brother-in-law the family electro-chemist 
says.  The red oxide (rust) gets converted to free oxygen and black oxide 
(same as fire scale).  The further reduction of this black oxide to iron 
requires a lot more energy than you use in the electrolytic rust reduction 
process ... he says you pretty much have to go through the smelting process 
to get rid of the remaining oxygen atom and leave the iron behind.

The good part about the black oxide residue is that it's light and not 
tightly bound to the surface and brushes/wipes/washes off quite easily.


Dave Brown
Heritage Smithing
Green Bay, WI
ABANA, UMBA, GoM, MODA, ARG