I had thought about getting into annodizing, but I got too many
things going now. I just thought i would give it a try - much to my
surprise the strange things happened :-)
--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan"
<stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>
> If you put some iron or steel in the CuCl it gets a copper coating.
> I dunno what happens here, i expect it is some form of electroless
plating.
>
> But i think in your case something different is happening, since
the CuCl
> copper coat on iron is thin and mostly smooth.
>
> If you want to get the aluminum black you can anodize it and use
black
> color with that. Seems quite easy to set up at home, although i
didn't
> find enough need so far.
>
> ST
>
>
> On Fri, 07 Apr 2006 15:55:54 +0200, lcdpublishing
> <lcdpublishing@...> wrote:
>
> > Hi guys,
> >
> >
> > Perhaps one of you chemistry guys knows what happened here.
While
> >
> > etching a board, I got to thinking about how the Ferric Chloride
> >
> > stains some metals (and wood, and other things) black. Always
one to
> >
> > try things, I dipped an aluminum bar in the stuff for a few
seconds.
> >
> >
> > When I pulled it out, it had what appears to be rust scale on it
like
> >
> > crazy! I assume this to be bits of Copper and not rust, but I
was
> >
> > wondering if someone could explain what happened there? I don't
think
> >
> > it was electrolysis - no electricty going through the mess.
> >
> >
> > Yet, somehow, the copper seemed to attract to the aluminum - it
didn't
> >
> > stick though. A rinse in water removed it quickly. The
aluminum did
> >
> > turn gray in color and not black like i had hoped - so it was a
failed
> >
> > experiment. But, it sure was interesting and raised a few
questions!
> >
> >
> > Chris
>