Platinum Metals Review - Volume 22, Issue 1, 1978

Platinum is usually considered to be a ductile workable metal readily fabricated by all the usual processes; it is therefore somewhat surprising to discover that the machining of platinum by conventional techniques results in rapid and extensive tool wear, with consequent deterioration of the surface finish imparted to the platinum article. This paper reports the results of an investigation into the behaviour of platinum during machining and the mechanisms by which the tool becomes worn. In addition the techniques devised to alleviate these phenomena, such as preferred tool materials and configurations, are described.

The first part of this article considered the principles of cathodic protection and described ways in which platinum could be utilised economically as an electrode material. This article examines how such electrodes perform in service, in a variety of applications and under differing conditions.

At an international colloquium sponsored by the Centre National de la Recherche and held at Lyon in November 1977 the four principal lectures, and several of the supporting ones, featured the use of platinum group metals as catalysts. The main objective of this meeting was to bring together chemists working with heterogeneous catalytic reactions and others specialising in inorganic and organometallic chemistry in order that they could together consider the relations between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic phenomena.