Electrolytic Iron: Brown Ferrous Electrolyte, Rotating Cathode at 75-77 °C, Graphite Anodes (Bouchayer, US 1,516,326)

Iron plated out of a fresh green ferrous bath comes off rough and useless. Bouchayer first stirred the bath in air until it turned bright brown; the iron oxychloride formed takes care of the hydrogen at the cathode, and the deposit grows even and compact at high current. Result: electrolytic iron, deposited at about 98 % current yield. Source: Bouchayer, US 1,516,326 (1924). Not given: cathode material, purity of the iron. Picture drawn by Youblob.

متقدم

Factory process

التعليمات

Make up the electrolyte at 20 °Bé

Dissolve ferrous sulfate in water (Bouchayer also allows ferrous chloride or a mix). Concentration: e.g. 20 °Bé, then keep it constant.

المواد لهذه الخطوة:

كبريتات الحديد1 as required

الأدوات المطلوبة:

ماء

مقياس كثافة

حوض التحليل الكهربائي

Stir it in air until brown

Agitate the green bath in air, e.g. by turning the anode, until it is bright brown and stops foaming. Used green, it gives only an irregular deposit.

الأدوات المطلوبة:

حوض التحليل الكهربائي

Circulate it through iron filings

Pump the electrolyte through a mass of iron filings in a separate vessel; it takes back iron and forms the ferric hydroxide that keeps the bath working. Keep it moving fast past the anodes: this lowers the phosphorus.

المواد لهذه الخطوة:

برادة حديد1 as required

الأدوات المطلوبة:

مضخة ماء

Deposit on a rotating cathode

Electrolyse between graphite anodes and a rotating cathode. Temperature: e.g. 75-77 °C at 1000 A/m², held exactly constant and below boiling; cathode speed: e.g. 120 m/min at 800 A/m². Cathode material: not given.

الأدوات المطلوبة: