Dissolve silver using nitric acid

[rrg92]

I have a piece of equipment that was manufactured using direct metal laser sintering made of a titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V). It is a cylinder with thin helical channels that is located above a vapour source in vacuum. I plan to coat it with silver, and I am looking for an effective way to eventually dissolve the silver without etching the Ti alloy. I am considering using a nitric acid solution, and would appreciate any input on whether or not this is best suited for my requirements, and if so what concentration and temperature I should choose.

 

[Matcon]

Nitric acid will dissolve the titanium. If you have the option to anodise the titanium followed by deposition of the silver by autocatalytic reduction and still retain the functionality of the part, that would be the route I would consider first. Then you could dissolve the silver in nitric acid

If not, an alternative to consider would be dissolving the silver electrolytically. The choice of electrolyte would need some thought and you would probably not get all the silver off before you start dissolving the substrate.