Everything You Need To Know To Find The Best platinized titanium anode

This is what a platers forum says about how to test the anodes for Platinum.

I was at a client's shop recently and he had received in a box full of these anodes, and every one had the discolored ring indicating they had been tested. I told him what the discolored ring meant and he called the customer to tell him. Well the customer insisted there was platinum. OK, the customer is always right so I set up to see if we could get some Platinum off of them.

We used a shear and cut the anode into strips so it would fit into a heated reactor and diluted some Hydrochloric to 20% to cut down on the fuming. Then the nitric was added and the reactor heated up. Well after about 1 hour I tested the acid and to my surprise the acid had a healthy Platinum stain.

So needless to say all these years I've thought the ring meant replace the anodes with new platinized anodes or get the old worn ones replated. Apparently, what is no longer the best for electroplating still has some value to refiners.

I remember from years ago in my electroplating days, the standard way to "test" if a platinized titanium anode still had a Platinum coating was to heat a section with a torch and when it cooled if there was a circle of discoloration the platinum has worn off. This is what would indicate a "no platinum remaining" result.This is what a platers forum says about how to test the anodes for Platinum. http://www.finishing.com/108/70.shtml I was at a client's shop recently and he had received in a box full of these anodes, and every one had the discolored ring indicating they had been tested. I told him what the discolored ring meant and he called the customer to tell him. Well the customer insisted there was platinum. OK, the customer is always right so I set up to see if we could get some Platinum off of them.We used a shear and cut the anode into strips so it would fit into a heated reactor and diluted some Hydrochloric to 20% to cut down on the fuming. Then the nitric was added and the reactor heated up. Well after about 1 hour I tested the acid and to my surprise the acid had a healthy Platinum stain.So needless to say all these years I've thought the ring meant replace the anodes with new platinized anodes or get the old worn ones replated. Apparently, what is no longer the best for electroplating still has some value to refiners.