Norddeutsche Affinerie Aktiengesellschaft

Gunther Kunst

Bernd E Langner

Peter Stantke

Ernst-Friedrich Reinking

The effectiveness of organic additives acting as inhibitors during the electrolytic deposition of metals from aqueous electrolytes, which contain organic additives for improving the deposition of metal, is electrically measured. In order to permit an improved and more reliable check of the effectiveness of the inhibitor and to permit a controlled supply of makeup inhibitors at the required rate, a partial stream of the electrolyte is supplied to flow at a constant velocity in a measuring cell provided with at least three wire electrodes having a fresh conductor surface, a measuring current of 5 mA to 1.0 A is supplied to the electrodes and is maintained, and the slope of the plotted cathode potential-time curve in the range from 0.1 to 50 minutes is taken as a measure of the effective conecentration of the inhibitor. The method can be used to measure the effective inhibitor concentration in an electrolyte used to electrorefine copper and to measure the effective conecentration of brightener in the electrodeposition of metal.

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Diessen/Ammersee, Germany

Gunther Kunst