For platinum chemical laboratory ware, there are several substitutes,
such as fused quartz; various iron, chromium, and nickel-chromium
alloys; _palau_, a gold-iridium alloy marketed in California;
_rhotanum_, a general name for gold-palladium alloys containing from 60
to 90 per cent. of gold, which are suitable for most chemical purposes,
except for use with hot concentrated nitric acid, and for electrolytic
anodes; _amaloy_, which is a complex alloy containing nickel, chromium,
tungsten, etc., highly resistant to corrosion and to cold nitric and
sulphuric acids[9] p. 600.
In the jewellery trade platinum has been replaced by an alloy of 90 per
cent. palladium and 10 per cent. rhodium. For certain surgical work
various _stellite_ alloys, containing cobalt and chromium, and hardened
by the addition of tungsten and molybdenum, are valuable substitutes for
platinum, and are not affected by antiseptic solutions. In dental work
pins are now made of tungsten coated with palladium[10] p. 549. For most
technical purposes an alloy of tungsten and nickel with gold or silver
is used in Germany; it may be cast, rolled or forged, is acid-resisting,
and capable of taking a high polish[11]. _White gold_, another
substitute for platinum, contains fine gold, from 75 to 85 per cent.;
pure nickel, from 10 to 18 per cent.; and zinc, from 2 to 9 per cent.
_Illium_, a chromium-nickel-copper alloy reported recently as the
discovery of S. W. Parr, of Illinois, is a substitute for gold or
platinum, costing only 25 cents per ounce. It is stated to have been a
“50 per cent. standard of success.” The alloy withstands hot or cold,
strong or diluted acid, can be both cast and machined, and is already
used largely in the manufacture of calorimeter bombs[12].
The results of researches made to discover substitutes for platinum, and
undertaken by the National Dental Association of America, are described
at length by F. A. Fahrenwald, in a paper read in January 1916 before
the American Institute of Mining Engineers.
SCRAP PLATINUM
A considerable amount of platinum in the form of old and worn articles
is now collected for return to the refineries, where it is re-treated,
and sold again as new metal. The trade in scrap platinum has been
particularly active in the United States, official statistics showing
that in 1916, 49,400 oz. of refined platinum were recovered.
WORLD’S OUTPUT OF PLATINUM
According to J. L. Howe, the estimated limits of the total
world-production of crude platinum, up to January 1917, were as
follows[13]:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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