Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
- Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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How to Strip Plated Silver Off Copper
Q. I am looking for a system that doesn't involve cyanide, nitric acid or machining to strip plated silver off of copper, so that the copper can be reused and replated as needed. Thank you, Peter.
Peter Sladeelectrical controls mfgr. - Horseheads, New York
2001
A. Dissolve 4 oz/gal sodium nitrate ⇦this on Amazon [affil link] in concentrated sulfuric acid. Electrostrip with a lead cathode at 3V, 70-120 °F.
James Totter, CEF
- Tallahassee, Florida
2001
Q. I am looking for a solution to strip plated silver from copper powder (30~40 micrometer), so that the copper can be reused and replated as needed. Thank you, very much.
Gyu-Sik KIM- Asan, ChungNam, KOREA
2002
A. James Totter's reply should be essentially applicable, Kim; however, remember to develop this process in extremely small batches and with all precautions until you are familiar with it because conventional plating and stripping chemistry proceeds so rapidly on powder (because of it's very tiny mass and huge surface area) that reactions which would be fairly slow on large parts can be virtually explosive on powder.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2002
Q. Hi,
I would like to remove silver plating from copper and brass items and collect, I have seen these systems and cannot find the manufacturer, do you know who produces this type of equipment.
Thanks,
Mike
- Rockville Centre, New York, USA
2007
Q. Would like to remove silver plating from copper and brass items and collect, I have seen these systems and cannot find the manufacturer, do you know who produces this type of equipment, or how to do it without harsh chemicals.
Kathryn Muellerartist - Edwardsville, Illinois
July 31, 2008
A. Hi Michael; hi Kathryn.
Silver plating wouldn't be very functional and useful if it easily dissolved away in dishwater or milk & honey. You can probably find a plating shop who will strip the silver for you; if you do it yourself, you will be using chemicals and you will be creating waste products. James has mentioned probably the best electrochemistry. To my knowledge, machines of this type are not available as catalog items, but you could contact the manufacturers of "Brush plating" systems shown at the bottom of the page and see what they can offer you. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 2012
Q. Is using an electrical current required? thanks.
Bill Peters- Farmington, New Mexico, USA
February 26, 2013
A. Hi Bill. Yes, it is an electrostrip, with the article you are stripping being the anode.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
February 27, 2013
Q. James Totter presented a solution to strip silver but forgot to mention how to recover the silver.
Could somebody fill this void?
- Canberra Australia
December 15, 2017
December 2017
Hi Alfred. I doubt that James "forgot" to discuss recovery of the silver; rather, he probably chose not to because the question he was answering was how to strip the silver in such a fashion as to not harm the underlying copper, so that it can be readily electroplated again. I'm guessing his thoughts, but he probably would not recommend that a plating shop try to recover the silver from such an operation in-house because of potential dangers, and with the cost of recovery probably exceeding the value of the silver.
If you are from a small plating shop, that would probably be my answer to you, although electrolytic recovery or ion exchange in the rinse water is a possibility if the stripping is part of the process rather than a response to a rejected item. We'll see if other readers have thoughts.
Please introduce yourself and your situation if it is different than the original question. Thanks.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Q. Thank you for your reply - Canberra Australia December 16, 2017 A. For small amounts, zinc dust ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] ? Alfred Fischer [returning]- Canberra Australia December 16, 2017 A. Alfred, - Benton, Arkansas, USA December 18, 2017
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