EXPERIMENT: 8

AIM:
To determine the porosity of tin plate.

REAGENTS USED:
 5% Ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN): Dissolve 5g in 1000ml of water.
 2.5% Acetic acid solution.
0.3% Hydrogen peroxide (1 vol.) solution: Dilute 10 ml of 30% H2O2 (100 vol.)
solution to 1000 ml with water.
 Dilute H2SO4: Dilute 400 ml of concentrated acid to 1 liter with water
 Ferricyanide solution

THEORY:

The test used for the determination of the porosity of tinplate is Thiocyanate test for porosity and
ferricyanide paper test for porosity. The tinplate samples are exposed to a solution containing
acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide and ammonium thiocyanate, and the amount of iron dissolved is
determined colorimetrically. This method provides a quantitative measure of porosity. Since
porosity will vary from place to place on a sheet of tinplate, and since a chance scratch may
produce a spurious result on a single sample, testing on large sample area is always desirable.
The ferricyanide test depends on the formation of blue color when ferrous ions reacts with
ferricyanide ions to form a complex.

PROCEDURE:

Procedure of thiocyanate test:

1. Use tinplate samples of 8cm x 5.5cm area. Clean, dry and degrease using carbon
tetrachloride and dry again.
2. Coat the edges of each plate completely with paraffin wax. It is desirable to apply two
coatings of wax, the first at about 90oC and the second at 75oC.
3. Prepare Thiocyanate test solution by mixing 100 ml of ammonium thiocyanate solution, 100
ml of acetic acid and 50ml of hydrogen peroxide in a 250ml beaker.
4. Keep the samples immersed vertically in the solution for 15min, undisturbed.
5. Stir the solution quickly with the test plate and then remove the test plate.
6. Add 5ml of dilute H2SO4 to the solution in the beaker and determine the iron content of the
solution by colorimetric estimation of its red thiocyanate color with suitable standards.

Procedure of ferricyanide test:

1. Cut the samples of tin plate.

2. Clean and degrease using carbon tetrachloride and dry the samples.
3. Moisten a filter paper strip of same size of tinlate sample with ferricyanide solution.
4. Place the paper in contact with tin plate for 1 hour. Moisten from time to time.
5. Remove the test paper from the specimen, wash in water until free from soluble salts and dry.
6. Count the blue spots amd keep the specimen as permanent record of the porosity of the
specimen.