Jacquet’s solution,1 consisting of glacial acetic and perchloric acids, has been extensively used for the electropolishing of iron in laboratories as well as in industries. For practical purposes, the lustre of metallic iron can easily be obtained by using this solution; however, to obtain a microscopically smooth surface, strict control of polishing conditions is required. After a number of experiments Sewell, Stockbridge, and Cohen2 have established a constant current electropolishing procedure for obtaining a smooth iron surface. This procedure, although employed by many workers, often fails because of the delicacy of the polishing process.
This note describes a further examination for a convenient and reliable procedure for electropolishing, iron and nickel in Jacquet’s solution for laboratory purposes.
A 99.9% pure iron specimen and a 99.8% pure nickel specimen, both polycrystalline, were used in the form of a plate 0.1 x 1 x 2 cm. After mechanically polishing with...
