morriso2002 wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I had a minor disaster recently when a glass jar I'd been using for 15 years to store some of my precious dwindling stock of anhydrous FeCl3 developed a crack. It went unnoticed and as the deliquescent crystals absorbed water from the air the etchant liquified and ran all over the place causing great domestic disharmony (to put it mildly). Fortunately there was not much in the jar at the time.
>
> I'm down to my last half kilo of the stuff, which I've been using for the last 40 years. Ferric chloride is now impossible to obtain down here in solid form and yes, I know I'll eventually have to go to another system. I've already run some experiments with HCl/H2O2 but that's not what this post is about.
>
> My question is, how best to store it? My last stock is in a sealed plastic bag but I don't really trust it. Does FeCl3 attach glass slowly?? The old jar looked rather corroded where it broke but had always looked fine up to now. Big glass jars are getting hard to find now too. I'm tempted to scour the supermarket for anything in a suitable jar with a plastic lid.
>
> Oh, and if anyone knows where I can get a kilo or two of solid FeCl3 (hydrated or anhydrous, but prefer the latter) in Melbourne Australia, I'd be very grateful.
I bought a 40 Litre bottle of liquid ferric chloride years ago from Orica (iirc)
in Melbourne. I use it diluted 1:1 with water and a bit of HCl in a Kalex
bubble etcher:
http://kalex.net.au/index.php?module=Website&action=Text&content=1098429165312-0019&parentContent=1098424907968-1192After etching a pcb, i put a lump of wood on it to stop evaporation.
If i use it a few months later, i put some HCl in it.
After a year of doing this, it went more green than brown, but still
etches in 15mins (no heating).
The same etchant seems to be lasting forever (CuCl etching).
Moral of story: don't throw away your etchant if you use airation bubble
etching.
Let me guess, you've been throwing away kilos of the stuff
over the years;)