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Many people try stainless steel, brass, and aluminum as their anodes, due to the familiar corrosion-resistant properties of those materials. The steel or iron used as the anode is sacrificed in electrolysis, as the anode rusts (oxidizes) and the cathode de-rusts (reduces). The process will become increasingly inefficient. Otherwise, the cleanest portions of the object will waste electricity splitting water until the still-rusted portion receiving the least amount of current is finished.Īlso, because the cleanest portions will likely conduct electricity better than the rusted areas, and since the anode will become less conductive as it is corroded or coated, Nevertheless, I am convinced that complete de-rusting of the object will occur more quickly, evenly, and efficiently by surrounding the cathode by the anode or by regularly rotating the part. Indeed, all areas of the piece to be cleaned showed bubbling and cleaning action, even if they were not nearest or “line of sight” with the anode. (Consider current through parallel resistors.) However, my experience in electronics suggests that the more resistant paths will still receive current, just less. In both cases, it was obvious that the areas where the anode and cathode were nearest each other produced the greatest quantity of bubbles. In the second set of electrolysis sessions, I used two anodes (on opposite corner of the container) and did not rotate the part. In the first electrolysis session, I used a single anode and occasionally rotated the part. My concern is that overly aggressive agitation may remove desired material, similar to excessive ultrasonic cleaning. The amount of bubbling rose significantly. Perhaps a different voltage would be more effective at converting iron back into its original form?ĭuring one experiment, I briefly turned the voltage up to 12 V, which increased current to 1.2 amps. Unlike other people on the web, I ran my sessions on 6 volts instead of 12 volts or 18 volts. So, the most obvious conclusion is that the pitting already existed due to rusting. In contrast to the formerly heavily rusted metal that shows significant pitting. Or, it could be that the majority of the electricity is converted chemically, rather than wasted as heat such as in electrical circuits.Īs revealed earlier in the article, an inspection of various cast steel drawer pulls treated with electrolysis reveals that the formerly lightly rusted metal shows no pitting, It could be that my electrolysis sessions involve too low of power usage (6 V 0.7 A = 4.2 W) to counteract the heat lost to the air to a measurable extent. In other words, there was no measurable temperature increase due to electrolysis. The result was that the temperature of the water was consistently within one degree Fahrenheit of the air. I used the multiple thermal measurement tool from an earlier project to record the temperature every second of the test.
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I ran electrolysis for 3½ hours with a temperature probe in the water as well as another temperature probe in the air to the side. Is there a better material for the anode, that won’t get destroyed in the process?.Is electrolysis “line of sight” such that only one side of the rusted piece will get clean unless you rotate it with respect to the anode?.Did electrolysis pit the rusted handle of the drawer pull?.Does the electrolyte heat up significantly?.The first experiment with rust removal went very well. Temperature, Pitting, Line of Sight, and Graphite Anodes