For a art project I have to etch tin. I tried a few things I tired anodizing it with 3,6,12v with sodium sulfate and borax solutions both
concentrated, It just turned some tin into SnO2 and that's it. I also tried a mixture of 1:1 copper sulfate and sodium chloride with a bit of nitric
acid, it didn't do much but it did show the tin's crystal structure.
I managed to get the tin to go golden while it was cooling down, but I couldn't find a way to get it to do that without heating.
Any suggestions?Sulaiman - 26-2-2018 at 07:04
Offhand I can't think of a simple colourful tin salt.
But etching may allow a dye or pigment to adhere ?happyfooddance - 26-2-2018 at 09:24
If you were to selectively plate some copper and/ or zinc, you could then apply heat to get bronzey/brassy colors... Other than that idk...unionised - 27-2-2018 at 06:19
Tin sulphide is brown. A thin layer might be yellow.
What are you actually trying to achieve? AJKOER - 27-2-2018 at 07:28
To etch Sn, a transition metal, first try lemon water + 3% H2O2 + sea salt + heat.
Not as people friendly (chlorine fumes, perform in a well ventilated area) but stronger, use chlorine bleach (NaClO) + vinegar + sea salt and warming.
[Edited on 27-2-2018 by AJKOER]Foeskes - 27-2-2018 at 15:43
I just wanted a color difference. Anyways I was thinking of anodizing in sodium polysulfide, maybe that will do the trick. not sure if the color will
stick or not. Metacelsus - 28-2-2018 at 05:19
"Post-transition metals are a set of metallic elements in the periodic table located between the transition metals to their left, and the metalloids
to their right. Depending on where these adjacent groups are judged to begin and end, there are at least five competing proposals for which elements
to include: the three most common contain six, ten and thirteen elements, respectively (see image). All proposals include gallium, indium, tin,
thallium, lead, and bismuth."
