Re: Muriatic acid

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Hollmike-at-aol-dot-com>

 Actually, most commercial plating baths for copper have 50 - 120ppm 
chloride included.  It helps attack the anode and increases plating 
efficiency.   It might also alter the deposit grain size and might even help 
reduce plating stresses.  Too much chloride would likely be a problem, 
causing pitting etc, but a small amount is good. 
  The presence of iron will reduce the plating efficiency because it 
undergoes a competing reaction. It gets reduced to the ferrous state and the 
cathode and then gets oxidized to the ferric state at the anode.  Usually 
this is not a serious problem and justs wastes a small amount of energy. 
Mike 



>
> Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid with a trace of iron contamination. It is 
> NOT...NOT..sulfuric and will distroy the chemistry of your plating 
> solutions. Do not ....Do not make the mistake of using one for the other. 
> Battery acid is dilute sulfuric acid and will work for plating. 
>              Robert Heidlrbaugh 
>