[TheForge] coal or charcoal morph to Evaporust

[Peter Hirst]

Picky Picky Picky.  At any strength nin which we might be interested for 
present purposes, OK?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Binnion" <jbin at well.com>
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] coal or charcoal morph to Evaporust


>
> On Jun 24, 2008, at 9:51 PM, Peter Hirst wrote:
>
>> Frosty:  you answered your own question on the phosphoric acid.  Nasty 
>> stuff in any strength.
>
> It is used in many food products at the appropriate dilution (think  soft 
> drinks)
>
>
>>  Not sure it would work in electrolyte bath.  The electrolysis tends  to 
>> redeposit the iron back onto itself, while the phosphoric acid  tends to 
>> dissolve the elemental iron.  The chemical action of the  acid and the 
>> electrlysis are two different reactions.  The sole  function of the ion 
>> in the bath is to conduct electricity, which in  turn exactly reverses 
>> what happens in the the creation of ferric  oxide -oxidation. Phosphoric 
>> acid dissolves the iron itself, which  is why its used to etch for other 
>> fininsh preps.
>
> The rust dissolving nature of your electrolytic setup is from the 
> reduction of the iron oxide (rust) back to iron by the atomic hydrogen 
> liberated at the cathode(-) from the electrolysis of the water in your 
> electrolyte. If you use an acid like phosphoric in the electrolyte 
> solution you will end up dissolving the anode(-) into the electrolyte  and 
> those ions will then plate out on the workpiece which you really  don't 
> want them to do. This is the basis for electroplating but your 
> electrolyte will not be a very good plating solution and you will end  up 
> with all kinds of junk firmly attached to your work piece.
>
> James Binnion
> jbin at well.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
>