[meteorite-list] Stopping Rust & Preserving Iron Meteorites - THIS WORKS!

From: Dave Mouat <dmouat_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:08:27 2004
Message-ID: <3D88B5E7.74B42190_at_dri.edu>

Steve
Do you soak the specimen in superglue or coat it?
And, is it 150 degrees F or C?
Thanks
Dave

Steven Schoner wrote:

> And I might also add that the process that I devised
> also works well with Brahin. But with pallasites one
> has to be careful as some of the olivines have a
> tendency to rise out of their sockets as the FeCl3 is
> converted to FeOH. Then during drying the FeOH is
> converted to iron oxides. And the olivines are at
> this point fairly secure. But what I do is use
> superglue to fix all the olivines then sand it down.
> I then leave the pallasite slices uncoated after
> polishing for several weeks. If they don't rust then
> I heat them to 150 degrees then dip them in
> polyurethane and allow them to dry.
>
> They never rust again.
>
> The process also works very well with the problematic
> Lamont mesosiderite as well.
>
> Steve Schoner
> American Meteorite Survey.
>
>
> --- Jeff Kuyken <jeff_at_meteoritesaustralia.com> wrote:
> > G'day List,
> > A couple of months ago I wrote to the list asking
> > for help to stop my Chinga slice rusting. There have
> > been a few posts since then asking similar questions
> > so I thought I would share this with everyone.
> > Before I continue, I really need to mention that the
> > problematic 111g slice of Chinga arrived to me
> > rusting in a way that would have put any Nantan to
> > shame! John Gwilliam replied to my post with a great
> > process that I have tried and has worked extremely
> > well. Thanks John. It has been several weeks now and
> > not even the slightest hint of rust has reoccurred.
> > I have included the post below.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Jeff Kuyken
> > I.M.C.A. #3085
> > www.meteoritesaustralia.com
> >
> > "Hello Jeff and List,
> >
> > According to Ivan Koutyrev, all the Chinga irons
> > they have found have been
> > recovered in stream beds. This means that the irons
> > have been in almost
> > constant contact with water for a long time. Over
> > hundreds of years, rust
> > has been able to migrate into the interior where it
> > can be a chronic
> > problem if not treated properly.
> >
> > After the meteorite has been sliced, I sand down the
> > flat surfaces starting
> > with a 100 grit or even a fresh 220 grit sanding
> > belt (on a water cooled
> > lapidary sander). Successively finer grits are used
> > until I'm down to a
> > worn 600 grit belt. Remember to wash the iron slice
> > and rinse in anhydrous
> > alcohol in between every grit change so you don't
> > have a stray piece of
> > larger grit mess up your polished surface. After
> > the worn 600 grit
> > polish, I treat the specimen for 5 - 10 days in the
> > alcohol/ sodium
> > hydroxide bath recommended by Steve Schoner. This
> > will attack the rust in
> > the specimen and the sodium in the mix bonds with
> > the chlorides in the rust
> > and becomes common salt. Believe me, this solution
> > really works. I have
> > several slices of OLD Campos sitting unprotected out
> > in my shop that were
> > treated over 18 months ago and none of them show a
> > hint of rust. For those
> > of you interested in this process, I think you can
> > find it on Eric
> > Twelker's website.
> >
> > After soaking in the bath, I rinse the specimen
> > thoroughly in FRESH
> > anhydrous alcohol and wipe it dry.
> >
> > Next, I polish the slice with a muslin buff on a
> > jewelers spindle. My
> > polishing unit has dual 6" x 1" stitched cloth
> > buffing wheels that you can
> > mount on any motor with an arbor or spindle. My
> > machine turns at 3,250
> > RPMs but a slower motor in the 1,720 RPM range will
> > work as well. The key
> > to the final polish is the compound applied to the
> > moving buff. I use a
> > product manufactured for the jewelry industry
> > called ZAM. I believe it
> > contains chromium oxide as the polishing agent. It
> > is a light green hard
> > stick in a cardboard wrapper and is available from
> > jewelry supply outfits
> > and some lapidary shops. Several minutes of
> > polishing will produce that
> > mirror like polish you are looking for."
> >
> >
>
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Received on Wed 18 Sep 2002 01:20:39 PM PDT