How can I speed up the electrolytic rust removal process?

[the mitch]

is there any way to speed up the rust removal process.right now ther is a basic base in the water aka sodium bicarbonate. i need some way of speeding up the current flowing through by lowering the resistance.

 

[GENIERE]

Maybe the chemistry guys can help. Do you have a means to increase the voltage? Be careful of the hydrogen gas.

 

[the mitch]

its outside, i need to find an arc welder for power sorce. 100 amps, 50 volts dc, 100% duty cycle

 

[dtang0]

have you tried increasing the concentration of the sodium bicarbonate solution.?

 

[Mk]

How does electrolytic dust removal work?

 

[the mitch]

same electrolsis of water to make hydrogen. just it converts the base rust to iron and the rest flakes off. just google electolytic rust removal. amazing what it can do.

 

[GENIERE]

Yeah it does work great, I used it to remove rust on some very old tools from my dad. I was in no hurry so I just used an auto battery.

It is a process I have little knowledge about but the basic are, I think:

Consider the solution as the “load” on the power supply (welder).

The load is the circuit component that restricts current flow.

The solution I believe will not provide a linear response to voltage changes, if one doubles the voltage I do not believe the current will double as it would using a resistive load.

I think using a larger electrode will increase the current flow.

As mentioned a higher concentration of bicarb should help, perhaps a weak acid may do better, but I’m out of my basic knowledge on that.

The load determines the amount of current for any given voltage, not the welder’s output current capacity; you will be well short of that.

Lastly, if you are able to get I amp to flow at 100vc, you will be dissipating 100watts through heating the solution. It will rapidly evaporate or boil, so be careful to keep it topped up.


[edit] It is a DC welder I hope.

[edit 2] Electrode choice. I think you need to use the same material for the electrode as the rusty parts are made from, presumably iron. If you use copper, you might end up copper plating the parts (?).