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The Fountain Pen Community -> The Workbench -> Ammonia effect on gold plated steel nibs.
Post Info TOPIC: Ammonia effect on gold plated steel nibs.
Mahutr


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Ammonia effect on gold plated steel nibs.
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Hi all,

Anyone has a direc experience with the corrosive effect of ammonia in steel?

I have a cheap Waterman nib (steel, gold plated) from a cartridge filler plastic pen (may even be called "school pen", if you ask me) with rust in the slit, in the underside, and tiny spots on the outside. One of the spots from the underside (quite big ones...) has already became a hole, going straight to the outside.

I got the pen quite dirty, with tons of dried ink everywhere. As it was kind of impossible to disassemble it, I have dumped the section in a household ammonia solution. I don't know if we are speaking about the same product (that urine-smelling, opaque white coloured, liquid soap, with the "NH3" on top of it), it is certaily safe to use it at home. The solution was kind of strong (about 10%) and I have kept the thing there for over twenty hours. Once out I have been able to disassemble it and place everything but the nib (gold plating is prone to disappear in the US cleaner...) in the US cleaner. Still loads of dirt came out. When I got the nib to study under a loupe, I realized that the stains were not just dirt but actually holes.

Now the question: Could it be myself the one who caused that? Or was it someone else before me? Not really useful right now for this particular pen (I had adapted a Laureat's nib to it anyway, and it works wonderfully), but would like to learn for the future opportunities...

TIA

Martin



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watch_art


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You can read a lot about ammonia on different metals if you search through mb.nawcc.org very carefully. Do lots of reading in particular in the repair and watchmaking sections. I know ammonia can pit brass if it's exposed for too long.

I don't know how it acts on gold though.

Good luck.

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Mahutr


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Thanks for your imput. As of now, I still think that corroding stainless steel so fast that  a hole is developped in less than a day seems too much. But my chemistry is quite weak (non-existant would be more appropriate...).

Rgds.

Martin

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watch_art


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was it 100% or diluted with water?
When I use ammonia to clean watch parts, I only use a 10-15% or so mix.

When I want to destroy metal, like old rusty screws stuck in a brass watch plate, I'll use diluted bleach water. Depending on how strong it is, a couple hours to a couple days will do it. I put a screw in 100% bleach to see what it would do, and it did it quick. So maybe you'd be fine with a diluted ammonia solution?

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