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Plating steel with aluminium

Some of my students have used a battery acid ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] bath for anodizing aluminium. For unknown reason, some of them used aluminium at the negative pole, and steel at the positive pole. It seems to be possible to coat steel with aluminium this way. Can anybody help me determine, if this is the case, and if it is, what is the reason?

Mikael Højbjerg
physics teacher - Aalestrup, Denmark
July 5, 2008

July 8, 2008

Hi, Mikael. No, it is not possible to plate aluminum this way. Water will hydrolize to hydrogen and oxygen long before any aluminum can be reduced. Aluminum can only be plated out of molten salts or non aqueous solvents.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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