What to do with platinum wires....

[Brett Novak]

Ok I have my flame suit on already since this is probably a stupid question.

I have access to 90% platinum wire in bulk, It's coated but very thin coating, and sectioned in 4 inch pieces.
I know this stuff is a _______ to refine, so , I'm looking for ideas what to do with about 2 pounds of it. I can oxy/acetlyne melt it to ingots, but if there is something easier, I'm all ears. Maybe the O/A is the best route since it will burn off the shielding?

Open to whatever ideas.

 

[Shark]

First look up platinosis. Then decided if it is worth the risk. At that point I would talk to someone with the proper facilities to handle platinum and find out if it was profitable to have them do it. The other option is to hold on to until such time you are properly setup to deal with it better. Think of it as an investment for the future.

 

[lazersteve]

I've refined many ounces of Pt wire. Key points are:
1) proper refining facility
2) proper safety gear
3) proper waste disposal

Once you have all that the rest is elementary refining you can learn in Hoke.

Steve

 

[orvi]

Ok I have my flame suit on already since this is probably a stupid question.

I have access to 90% platinum wire in bulk, It's coated but very thin coating, and sectioned in 4 inch pieces.
I know this stuff is a _______ to refine, so , I'm looking for ideas what to do with about 2 pounds of it. I can oxy/acetlyne melt it to ingots, but if there is something easier, I'm all ears. Maybe the O/A is the best route since it will burn off the shielding?

Open to whatever ideas.

What is the rest of the metal composition ? Platinum is usually alloyed with other PGMs such as Rh or Ir, check it out.
90% Pt is high enough to sell it as it is.

Personally, I wouldn´t bother with refining. For beginner or even intermediate-skilled refiner this would be lengthy, somewhat lossy and messy endeavor, if you will aim for added value product like 3N Pt sponge or ingot. If these are just regular wires in plastic shielding, burn it off with torch, platinum will stay untouched and shiny And sell the wires as they are, after cleaning from the ashes and junk.

 

[4metals]

A photo of this material would be helpful for determining the ease or difficulty of removing the wire coating.

If you have access to this material in bulk you should be thinking of representative sampling of the material. This starts with removing the coating. From there sampling is simply melting the material and casting it into a bar. One common alloy with 90% Platinum is Pt/Ir (90/10). With Platinum in the low $900’s and Iridium just south of $4500, the 10% Iridium could be as valuable as the Platinum.

For this reason, I would make it a homogenous blend and take it to refiner to witness the melt. The charges at a large refiner who will pay on Iridium will be much less than what you will spend to do it yourself and eliminate the disappointment you will experience when you try to sell your own refined platinum group metals.

 

[orvi]

A photo of this material would be helpful for determining the ease or difficulty of removing the wire coating.

If you have access to this material in bulk you should be thinking of representative sampling of the material. This starts with removing the coating. From there sampling is simply melting the material and casting it into a bar. One common alloy with 90% Platinum is Pt/Ir (90/10). With Platinum in the low $900’s and Iridium just south of $4500, the 10% Iridium could be as valuable as the Platinum.

For this reason, I would make it a homogenous blend and take it to refiner to witness the melt. The charges at a large refiner who will pay on Iridium will be much less than what you will spend to do it yourself and eliminate the disappointment you will experience when you try to sell your own refined platinum group metals.

I agree with this. If you have quantity over a pound or so, then you have significantly better leverage than with one oz.

Sometimes not to refine is the better way. Leaves me sad many times, but time is a finite resource and health is irreplacable.

 

[Brett Novak]

Hi guys - so further research, these are platinum plated with SILVER. These are the wires used in insertable blood glucose meters.

If my thinking is correct, I may do a quick burn with the torch to remove the membrane outside, then nitric acid bath to dissolve the silver, which should leave the platinum untouched and no chance of platinosis.

Then drop out the silver for collection, and I should end up with only platinum remaining, which should be safe to handle rather than in solution.

Make sense?

Oh as for how much, a few pounds. I'll try and do a level set to figure out the percentages of each with a small batch.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hi guys - so further research, these are platinum plated with SILVER. These are the wires used in insertable blood glucose meters.

If my thinking is correct, I may do a quick burn with the torch to remove the membrane outside, then nitric acid bath to dissolve the silver, which should leave the platinum untouched and no chance of platinosis.

Then drop out the silver for collection, and I should end up with only platinum remaining, which should be safe to handle rather than in solution.

Make sense?

Oh as for how much, a few pounds. I'll try and do a level set to figure out the percentages of each with a small batch.

Some Platinum may follow the Silver into solution just as with Pd/Pt alloys.
Maybe not much but some.

 

[andu]

A nice thing about silver is that if you add 5% platinum by weight it starts being called platinum sterling, great for marketing. Some picture of the wire would be nice . I'd def go with the nitric, cement, melt and test.

 

[orvi]

Hi guys - so further research, these are platinum plated with SILVER. These are the wires used in insertable blood glucose meters.

If my thinking is correct, I may do a quick burn with the torch to remove the membrane outside, then nitric acid bath to dissolve the silver, which should leave the platinum untouched and no chance of platinosis.

Then drop out the silver for collection, and I should end up with only platinum remaining, which should be safe to handle rather than in solution.

Make sense?

Oh as for how much, a few pounds. I'll try and do a level set to figure out the percentages of each with a small batch.

Strange order of metals when plated... I would be interested why you would coat platinum (noble metal, not oxidizing) with silver (relatively easily oxidized). But I do not know anything, so I assume it is like this Perform tests and don´t rely on assumption (if you already didn´t tested either with nitric or other method to confirm that silver + AR and subsequent stannous for platinum).

Heating can cause metals to diffuse into each other. I don´t know if this would be an issue with platinum (very high melting point), but I can certainly tell that gold and copper love each other and relatively slight heating (couple hundred °C) will make gold diffuse into the copper.

 

[jphayesjr]

Hi guys - so further research, these are platinum plated with SILVER. These are the wires used in insertable blood glucose meters.

If my thinking is correct, I may do a quick burn with the torch to remove the membrane outside, then nitric acid bath to dissolve the silver, which should leave the platinum untouched and no chance of platinosis.

Then drop out the silver for collection, and I should end up with only platinum remaining, which should be safe to handle rather than in solution.

Make sense?

Oh as for how much, a few pounds. I'll try and do a level set to figure out the percentages of each with a small batch.

There are many "Platinum" blood glucose meters. Generally, you'd want to recover the sensor wire, and thoroughly sanitize it since it is inserted subdermally in the patient. There may also be a speck or two of PMs in the meter itself, and from another type of meter, from the disposable test strips. https://www.uhms.org/images/MEDFAQs/Safety/G4-PLATINUM-with-Share-US-ifu-Adult_1.pdf

 

[Brett Novak]

Sorry missed the responses - J - these are actually factory discards of the sensor wires. They have never been implanted which is why they still have the membrane and silver coating. In fact they are discards from even getting close to the final production of the device.