On 02 Feb 2004 01:12:03 GMT, (Veeduber) wrote:


Using lye ( sodium hydroxide ) for an etch is a disasterous choice.

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Not necessarily.

Not all aluminum is Alclad and sodium hydroxide has long been a standard for
surface preparation for aluminum. But as with heat treatment or re-forming, it
isn't an amateur sport :-)

-R.S.Hoover

Veedubber,

As a high school student, I filled baloons with hydrogen gas by
cutting up TV Dinner trays and dumping them into lye water and piping
the gas into the baloons. The aluminum metal definitely goes away. I
stand by my statement, and Alclad was not the point.

Bob Seals
M.S. Chemistry