The Armour Archive

I recently purchased 340 aluminum scales that were treated with ferric chloride from ...
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=110747 ....
I got them today and they look great. Question I have is about the safety and durability of the treatment.
every time I play with one of the plates, a bit of dust poofs off. Is this hazardous ? Will it eventually stop ? Any way to treat the plates so this doesn't happen ?
I appreciate your time and expertise. Jim

It's a form of Chlorine gas and yes its hazardous,

knitebee wrote:It's a form of Chlorine gas and yes its hazardous,

Hazardous to use the plates for armor after they have been treated ? Or hazardous to perform the treatment ?

I am pretty confident that the white stuff is aluminum chloride. The reaction of etching aluminum with ferric chloride produces this and it is normal and is not chlorine gas. (That stuff will produce chlorine gas if you expose it to bleach, though!)

Aluminum chloride is an irritant and can eat away at mucous membranes and skin, so it is harmful and should be cleaned off the scales. It seems to me, though that there isn't enough of it to be a real risk unless someone puts it in their mouth or sniffs it really hard directly or something. BUT!!! I wouldn't take any chances. If I were you, I'd contact either a person who has experience dealing with etching metals, or a local professional waste disposal person for advice concerning this, but I will share with you what I think would work:

I would clean the scales thoroughly with water, as aluminum chloride dissolves very easily in water. I would collect the waste water from the operation. While doing so, I'd wear some gloves at least, and even a particle filter mask and skin protection just in case. The waste water would need to be disposed of properly.

Hazardous to do, the more pieces you do at once the worse it is. There is an exothermic reaction, if a single plate causes a small cloud of smoke, putting in a dozen or two plates at once and not only will you get a BIG mushroom cloud of gas, but the exothermic reaction will have the ferric chloride literary boiling with in a few moments.

I might be wrong on what particular gas it causes but it does cause a hazardous gas, don't use ferric chloride with aluminum. Do a search here on the archives, its been discussed a few times.

Thankfully they were treated when I got em.

So guys, are they hazardous now, they were treated at least a year ago?

Yojimbo, I will return your money if they are. I did not know. I guess I could then look up Italo Norman who sold them to me.

owen matthew wrote:So guys, are they hazardous now, they were treated at least a year ago?

Yojimbo, I will return your money if they are. I did not know. I guess I could then look up Italo Norman who sold them to me.

I appreciate the offer, But they should be OK. Seems like the treatment is what is hazardous.
Still hoping to hear from Marius Brittanicus or Eldesar Metalworks

Yeah, knitebee is right; the treatment is what is most hazardous. At high temperatures, the gas produced is not only chlorine gas, but also ferric chloride vapor, both of which are nasty.

The armour is fine, and I think you would have felt some nasty stuff by now if the armor itself was hazardous. Any powdery stuff on there is probably metal oxides and aluminum chloride which all come off with scrubbing and water. When cleaning, though, do wear at least hand an eye protection.

There are a lot of other acids that work better on aluminum.
The powder will wear off in time much like Galvanized chainmail.

I have done this with my aluminum plates. The gases produced in the process are not good for you. I used a big box fan behind me while wearing a dust mask in a ventilated area (outside). Wear gloves and have all your tools there and ready. I was able to wash off all the residue with water.

So, the consensus I am getting is that is definetely a hazardous process, but once performed ( which is the case with mine, as I bought them treated ), is safe to wear with a little cleaning of the plates ?

Yup!

If your carefull it is easy to do...right equipment ..right job.

Yojimbo, sent you a PM