[meteorite-list] Is this an ethical way to treat a meteorite?

From: Bill Hall <meteoritics_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 05:03:09 -0700
Message-ID: <883a36d30904090503g99c2170u646f2042a9129f77_at_mail.gmail.com>

Ok,
      PLEASE NOTE: I'm not recommending this to anyone, it just an
experiment I tried with surprising results. Mainly the fact that it
appeared to have exposed areas of fusion crust, and stabilized the
specimen.

      What I did: #1 remove largest flakes with very light wire
brushing, leaving most rust intact.

#2 soak in Rust-Mort for an hour, take out, dip in water and baking
soda mixture for 3 seconds to neutralize the acid, blow dry and let
sit overnight to dry.

Plain Phosphoric Acid Based rust treatments are used for two main reasons:

#1 It dissolves rust at a much faster rate than it dissolves iron, and
#2 It leaves a iron phosphate coating on the clean metal surface.
The phosphate in the acid converts ferric oxide (Fe2O3) into iron
phosphate (FePO4) and water in a faster simple exchange reaction:

Fe2O3 + 2 H3PO4 ? 2 FePO4 + 3 H2O

The water is removed when the part is cleaned but the iron phosphate
will adhere due to surface effects so that it does not wash away.

The hydrogen ions in the acid will attack the iron and convert it into
iron phosphate (FePO4) and hydrogen gas (the bubbles) in a slower
reduction-oxidation reaction:

Fe + H3PO4 ? FePO4 + H2?

Unless the metal is exposed to the acid for a extended period and in
sufficient concentrations, the effect of the acid attacking the steel
will be negligible.

Some of the above information comes from Lee M. Daniels, Laboratory
for Molecular Structure and Bonding, Texas A&M, daniels at tamu.edu
[email updated July, 2001]


Rust-Mort
SEM Products, Inc.
651 Michael Wylie Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28217
phone: 704-522-1006

#3 Remove the brownish green crust that is left in a sandblasting
cabinet, using very fine silica sand. Go easy, and use FINE sand or
you will be sorry. If you are careful you will be amazed to see
splotches of what appear to be black fusion crust appear. I'm not sure
about this, but it looks very convincing to me. The splotches seem to
be quite hard, and to have a glassy texture to them. Takes about 5
min. to do a fist sized meteorite.

#4 to get rid of the sand blast texture I used a giant 12 inch
industrial 3 phase polisher ( A guy I know polishes stainless steel
auto trim, in the auto restoration business) these are used in chrome
or polishing shops. I used green stick rouge, but you could try brown
ow white as well. An 8" bench grinder with a polishing pad and green
rouge might work, but I recommend the big 12" industrial unit. It
takes about 10 min. to do a fist sized meteorite, depending on
regmaglypts.

#5 Optional and controversial: Use gun bluing to turn the meteorite
back to a more natural color.

#6 spray the meteorite with carnauba spray wax for automotive Paint applications

#7 Pray to you higher powers that be, and debate whether to tell
anyone what you have done!!!


let me know if you try it, and your results please,


       Bill Hall


On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 9:05 PM, Bill Mason <bmason3 at comcast.net> wrote:
> There are better ways to treat iron meteorites that will stop further
> corrosion. STOP and think, what causes corrosion. Now remove the water from
> the interior and treat it with Vapor phase corrosion inhibitors. Now sit
> back and enjoy a rust free meteorite collection.
>
> Bill Mason3 ?"rusty"
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of tracy
> latimer
> Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:09 PM
> To: meteoritics at gmail.com; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Is this an ethical way to treat a meteorite?
>
>
> If the alternative is having the meteorite slowly become a pile of rust
> flakes indistinguishable from what collects at the bottom of a junkyard
> (except for Ni content), I say go for it!
>
> Tracy Latimer
>
> ----------------------------------------
>> Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 09:50:57 -0700
>> From: meteoritics at gmail.com
>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Is this an ethical way to treat a meteorite?
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Received on Thu 09 Apr 2009 08:03:09 AM PDT