How to turn glass into a mirror

[lovicodo]

hi to all,
i have some questions about glass silvering;
i found this procedure:
1) make a solution (A) with 1.4 gr silver nitrate + 17gr water
then, add to the solution 1.2gr of ammonia 26% solution

2) make a solution (B) with 9.2 gr potassium bitartrate + 4gr sodium carbonate + 17gr water

3) make a solution (C) made of 5gr (A) + 5gr (B) + 100gr water

4) put a very clean glass sheet (*) in solution (C) , and leave it in the solution until the glass silvering is done.

(*) the glass must be very clean before silvering :
to clean it, wash it with a 6% tin chloride solution,
then rinse it with hot water.

The author claims that with this procedure is possible to silver also plastic with very smooth surfaces.

The questions are:

1) Do you think that this procedure can really work also for plastics?

2) How can i make the plastic surface clean (and smooth)?
do you think that the 6% tin chloride solution is suitable also for plastics, or does need another cleaner?

I am interested in plastics such as PLA,ABS,PETG; i have read somewhere that PETG is more suitable than the others...

P.S: this is my first post in this forum,
i am sorry if i have posted the question in a wrong forum section, in this case i ask to moderator to move it in the right place...

Thank you!
Lodovico

 

[Nik_2213]

IIRC, your surface must be scrupulously clean, finally rinsed off with distilled water, before attempting to silver it..

Even so, you may get 'indifferent' adhesion and rapid 'foxing' due to SOx in the air.
:-(

I found this, which may be of interest... https://www.edmundoptics.com/resources/application-notes/optics/metallic-mirror-coatings/

 

[lovicodo]

thank you
yes, i found that the tin chloride solution is used to enhance the adesion, it is a 'sensitizer' and to have better results, the object surface must be covered with a wetting agent (a surfactant) before applying the tin chloride solution.
about this solution, i found some methods to make it without having to buy the tin chloride powder
the method is by using only the tin and hydrochloric acid
i wonder which is the best method...i open a new thread for this...

 

[CWatters]

Have you looked at processes like this?