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Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Using HCl to Strip Nickel from brass

What is the highest HCl concentration that can be safely used for pickling to remove Nickel plating from a solid brass item without it going for the brass? Would a 20% HCl concentration cause brass damage?

Gordon Hamilton
Hobbyist - Cassopolis, Michigan
December 4, 2009

Hi, Gordon. Yes, 20% HCl will attack brass. Even 10% will attack brass. But the worst part is that it probably won't hurt the nickel :-(

You can't strip nickel with HCl, you need either a proprietary stripper or a cyanide or nitric acid based stripper (both quite hazardous).

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December 4, 2009

Easy and not so toxic way-try to strip it with 5% nickel sulphate solution(add few drops of sulfuric acid).
Your object must be connected to positive terminal of battery or rectifier,piece of stainless steel can be used as cathode(connected to -).Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Zagreb,Croatia
December 8, 2009

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