Platinum Metals Review - Volume 25, Issue 4, 1981

Although Europe is following the example of the U.S.A. in progressively lowering permitted emission levels of pollutants from motor vehicles, it seems unlikely to introduce lead free petrol in the foreseeable future. Proposed regulations seek a level of emission control which will, in all probability, necessitate the use of oxidation catalysts. In the presence of leaded fuel conventional autocatalysts used in the U.S.A. are susceptible to poisoning after relatively low mileages and there is a potential requirement for a catalyst system capable of functioning satisfactorily on fuel containing substantial concentrations of lead. Following the identification of the nature and the type of the poisoning lead species, Johnson Matthey has developed a first generation lead tolerant catalyst system for emission control. This has demonstrated durability for 50,000 kilometres road usage with leaded fuel.

The solid state reactions that take place between many ceramics and metals can be utilised to produce strong vacuum-tight joints that maintain their strength and durability even at elevated temperatures. In this context platinum can play an especially important role because of its high melting point and resistance to chemically aggressive environments. Some industrial applications of the solid state bonding process using platinum are described in this article, which also includes some data on the properties of joints made in this way.

For the first time an international conference has been devoted solely to the chemistry of the platinum group of metals. Organised by the Dalton Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, this highly successful meeting attracted well over three hundred participants from twenty-seven countries, the proceedings including four main lectures, thirty invited papers and more than a hundred contributions in the form of posters.

Credit for first producing malleable platinum in North America in sufficient quantity to satisfy the needs of American industry and commerce must go to Justus Erich Bollmann, whose sheet platinum went into the construction of the first platinum still to be used in America for the concentration of sulphuric acid. An account is provided of the development of Bollmann’s business and of his efforts to create new outlets for the metal.