Palladium - where to look, how to distinguish it from silver and other metals

January 12, 2021

During the production of nickel and copper, the precious metal palladium is formed as a result of processing anode sludge. Used in radio components to extend service life. It is used as a catalyst in chemical plants and laboratories. The price of this metal exceeds the cost of gold, so the demand for it increases every year.

How to determine palladium in radio components

Palladium is resistant to corrosion and abrasion, so radio components made with it are more durable. In Soviet times, Pd metal was used in the production of many devices, radio and television equipment. It was applied to the contacts of capacitors and connectors, it was used in circuit boards and catalysts, and in oscilloscope wire. You can find palladium in radio components found in old Soviet household appliances, batteries, and measuring instruments.

The largest amount of this precious metal is contained in KM capacitors, connectors and resistors. Capacitors were previously produced in Bulgaria, and all of them necessarily contained palladium. It is still used in the electronics, space and military industries.

How to determine palladium in radio components

Why separate metal?

Everyone has their own reasons for setting up a chemical laboratory at home. Why might you need pure palladium? Home mining of metal is usually carried out either by amateur chemists who really need the element as a catalyst for research, or by entrepreneurs who want to sell the metal.

Both of these groups of experimenters are looking for an answer to one question: how to separate palladium found in radio components? The resulting Pd can be used as a catalyst, accelerating the process of many chemical reactions, or it can simply be turned into non-ferrous scrap metal. Most often, they try to isolate the precious metal from old capacitors precisely for this purpose. Palladium has risen in price significantly in recent years; the price of a gram of metal in rubles remains above a thousand rubles. For those who want to earn extra money in this way, it is much more profitable to hand over pure metal than to collect and sell several kilograms of radioelements containing it.

Many questions arise here, including:

  • Where is the metal found?
  • How to isolate palladium and separate it from impurities?
  • Where can I take it?

Pd is used in the production of all kinds of capacitors, relays, contacts and microcircuits. The precious metal can be found both in Soviet-made parts and in modern elements. The modern electronics industry is actively using this element and is carrying out further developments in order to expand the scope of its application.

To obtain palladium refining, knowledge in the field of chemistry is required; the process is quite complex, so to repeat it at home, it is best to watch a video describing the features of the technology. Methods for separating Pd from impurities depend on what impurities need to be removed. Metal in electronic parts can be present either in pure form or in alloys containing platinum, copper, silver, tungsten, bismuth and other elements.

Selling palladium as non-ferrous scrap is quite problematic. If with gold everything is much simpler - you can simply take it to a purchase point, then to hand over Pd you will have to look for a non-ferrous metals collection point that has a license. Illegal trafficking in non-ferrous metals is punishable by law.

How to determine the authenticity of platinum?

Platinum is a noble precious metal. Products made from it are very popular. It is important to understand how it stands out among other metals and in what parameters it surpasses them.

Differences from gold and other metals

Gold belongs to the category of soft metals. In contrast, platinum is much stronger and denser, more resistant to wear. And it weighs more. Gold is easier to deform, platinum products are more practical. Platinum is lighter, gold bars and jewelry have a gray or gray-yellow tint.

To give white gold products a characteristic whiteness and shine, as well as additional strength, they are often coated with a rhodium layer of a silver-white hue.

Its properties are as close as possible to the properties of platinum.

What is heavier, platinum or silver?

A platinum product will be heavier than gold and significantly heavier than silver. ... This means that the product consists of 85%, 90% or 95% pure platinum, respectively. The content of pure gold or silver in the jewelry alloys used is much lower, so platinum products are always heavier.

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Comparative characteristics of metals

How to distinguish two noble metals from each other? Looking at silver and platinum, you immediately notice their visual similarity. Otherwise, these are two different metals, with different properties and composition. Speaking in the language of chemists, platinum and silver belong to the group of transition metals. They share some of the same properties, but there are also significant differences.

Similarities

Both alloys are light-colored and shiny and are used to create jewelry. In addition, they are united by several areas where they are widely used. For example, in medicine, platinum is used for the complex treatment of oncological diseases; instruments are made from it, which are sterilized in the flame of an alcohol burner and do not oxidize. Alloys of platinum with other metals are used to create dentures.


Platinum and silver of the same color

Dental crowns, compositions for fillings are made from silver, and are used to treat skin diseases. Silver alloy in the form of an intravenous solution is used in the treatment of septic arthritis, rheumatism, bronchial asthma, influenza and other diseases.

Platinum and silver are excellent investments. Ingots are melted from them and coins are made for further financial investments.

In Russia, in the first half of the 19th century, platinum began to be used in the form of an alloying additive in the production of high-strength steels. Silver is known as the metal of the future. They plan to add it when creating solar panels, as well as new batteries that should replace lithium-ion devices.

Differences

The difference between silver and platinum alloys becomes more noticeable when you begin to study their composition and properties. There are much fewer deposits of platinum in the world than silver. For example, to extract the second one, only 3 tons of ore are required, while a substance from the platinum group requires 10 tons.

Despite all the external similarities, silver has a grayish tint, while platinum is lighter and shiny. Over time, silver tarnishes, platinum does not.


Platinum is a hard material

Silver is a soft metal, products made from it are easier to deform. The alloy is susceptible to corrosion and has a lower density. Platinum, on the contrary, is hard, has a high density, and does not darken or become stained when interacting with acids and alkalis.

What is the most expensive metal in the world?

Palladium is the most expensive

of the four main precious
metals
: gold, silver and platinum. It is less common than platinum and is used in large quantities in catalytic converters.

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What does Platinum look like in nature?

This is a silver-colored precious metal. Outwardly it resembles silver, but has completely different physical and chemical properties. Platinum deposits are rarely found in nature. Their development is extremely labor-intensive.

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General information and scope of application of the material

The demand for palladium is explained by its special chemical and physical characteristics:

  • the substance is resistant to the influence of alkalis and moisture;
  • the material is not afraid of exposure to ammonia;
  • the metal has a high melting point;
  • the substance exhibits optimal electrical conductivity.

Since the substance reacts to the influence of concentrated nitric acid, it is most often used to refining palladium. The metal is widely used in the following industries:

  • for removing impurities from hydrogen using deep purification method;
  • for the production of electrical contacts, which are actively used in microcircuits and devices in the aerospace and military industries. The high wear resistance of the material is valued here;
  • in medicine - for the production of dentures and all kinds of narrow-profile devices;
  • palladium chloride is in demand in electroplating; it is necessary for metallization of dielectrics - this is one of the stages of manufacturing electrical circuit boards;
  • using palladium-based catalysts, even the minimal presence of carbon monoxide in the air is detected and oil is cracked;
  • the introduction of this metal into gold helps to change the color of the alloy; the technique is actively used in the jewelry niche.


Palladium is used in medicine.
Palladium is in demand in the production of measuring equipment, since it eliminates the possibility of surface corrosion; this property is important when designing chemical equipment. Palladium coating on electrical contacts prevents the sparking effect.

How to test silver or copper?

Drop a little nitric acid solution onto the experimental item: if the metal turns green, then you have a copper alloy, if it just darkens, then it’s silver.

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Methods for separating palladium from radio components

Pd metal can be obtained in its pure form from any parts using the refining method. It is the most common and reliable, consisting of a chain of chemical reactions. Isolation is carried out in stages using several reagents. At the first stage, the metal is dissolved in aqua regia. Then the metals contained in it are reduced: palladium - with a solution of potassium iodide, palladium - with ammonia, gold - with zinc.

Finally, the palladium filtrate is mixed with hydrochloric acid. The orange-yellow precipitate resulting from the reaction is washed with water and alcohol, dried and melted. There are two more ways to obtain palladium from radio components: the etching method and the electrolytic method.

Home methods for determining the authenticity of palladium

At home, you can determine what metal is in front of you, even without deep knowledge of physics and chemistry or expensive equipment in the bushes.

So, if you bought an unmarked ring at a flea market, and the seller insisted that it was white gold, there are several ways to determine whether the jewelry actually contains palladium, or whether it is a nickel alloy. So, how to check what kind of metal is in front of us?

By weight and density

The method is simple and fast. But you will need fairly accurate scales - with an error of up to one hundredth of a gram. And distilled water, it is easy to get at any pharmacy or auto store.

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