Platinum Metals Review - Volume 14, Issue 1, 1970

A new platinised ceramic honeycomb catalyst has been developed by Matthey Bishop Inc. for the combustion of organic fume. The low pressure drop, attrition resistance and high activity of this catalyst make it especially suitable for a wide range of processes requiring air pollution control. The operating conditions for this catalyst are described and details of a number of applications are given.

A mineral insulated platinum: 13 per cent rhodium-platinum thermocouple, clad with 10 per cent rhodium-platinum and stainless steel, has been manufactured for experimental work in the Herald Reactor at Aldermaston. The clad thermocouple unit was 30 feet long and passed through 23 feet of cooling water to a reaction chamber at 1200°C.

Carbon diffuses rapidly through heated membranes of platinum and palladium even though its solubility in the former metal is less than 0.02 per cent by weight at 1700°C. Palladium takes up more than 0.4 per cent by weight of carbon at 1400°C and this interstitial solubility hardens it considerably and distends the lattice. The effects of carbon on the microstructure and mechanical properties of platinum and palladium are described in this article, which dispels some illusions and surveys the practical consequences of the constitutional relationships observed.

As part of the 158th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, held in New York in September, a Symposium on the Platinum Group Metals was organised. This review outlines the papers presented, and deals also with a number of other papers given during the remainder of the meeting.