Abstract
The role of mercury in promoting the dissolution of aluminum in nitric acid was investigated experimentally. The rates at which a broad range of Al sample sizes and shapes dissolved in HNO3 were determined for various combinations of HNO3 and Hg(NO3)2 molarities. The effects of temperature and agitation were also studied, as was the product gas composition. The kinetics of dissolution appeared to shift from first- to nearly zero-order with respect to the concentration of HNO3 as the concentration of Hg was lowered, reflecting a change in rate-controlling step. As the surface-to-volume ratio of the samples was increased, the rate of dissolution per area decreased, and the rate in terms of mass per unit time changed only modestly. Mercury appears to promote Al dissolution via a “bulk” effect involving amalgam formation rather than by a surface catalytic effect.
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