Interesting chemical reaction (acetone+YBCO)
Conundrum, Sun Jun 19 2016, 05:03AMHi all.
Due to an unfortunate oops about 1/3 of the test pellet crumbled into tiny pieces.
(hint: Peltier cooler = BAD idea, no matter how many stages are cascaded unless measures are taken to prevent ice buildup).. on the flip side it went down to -12C so that isn't a total disaster.
I thought rather than simply discarding it to try immersing it in acetone to get all the remaining silver paint and thermal compound off and something interesting happened.
The acetone went from colorless to dark brown in seconds!!
Any ideas what is going on here? One of the pellets is BSCCO but not sure which.
Perhaps this might help folks who acquired HTSC materials but aren't sure what the chemistry is, or
have no other way to test them?
Re: Interesting chemical reaction (acetone+YBCO)
Enceladus, Thu Feb 09 2017, 01:55AM
Are you sure it's a chemical reaction, not a physical reaction? (ie:simple dissolution) What do you get when you evaporate the product? Of the elements you mentioned knowing were present, the only compound of which I know to be brown is silver oxide. What color are those ceramics? Was there any corrosion on anything? Any plastic parts perhaps? Acetone rapidly dissolves ABS, and many other things, but usually not ceramics. If a bona fide chemical reaction did take place, then some of the material that reacted should have been consumed. Look closely for pitted surfaces. To really tell you anything I'd need a good deal more information.
Enceladus, Thu Feb 09 2017, 01:55AM
Are you sure it's a chemical reaction, not a physical reaction? (ie:simple dissolution) What do you get when you evaporate the product? Of the elements you mentioned knowing were present, the only compound of which I know to be brown is silver oxide. What color are those ceramics? Was there any corrosion on anything? Any plastic parts perhaps? Acetone rapidly dissolves ABS, and many other things, but usually not ceramics. If a bona fide chemical reaction did take place, then some of the material that reacted should have been consumed. Look closely for pitted surfaces. To really tell you anything I'd need a good deal more information.
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