Is it necessary to add additives for wet electrolytic copper production?
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I have a question for fellow industry professionals: in wet electrolytic copper production, is it necessary to add gelatin to the electrolyte? Thiourea? What ingredients should be added in what situations~! I hope you can explain it in detail~!
It should be added! By simulating the conditions of copper electrolysis, additives composed of gelatin and thiourea as well as casein with different molecular weight ranges were used to examine the effect of gelatin molecular weight on the surface quality of the cathodic copper. The impact of these factors was evaluated through visual inspection and metallographic microscopy, and a microstructural model for the cathodic copper surface was proposed. The research results show that the combination of two types of gelatin with different molecular weights yields better results than using just one type of gelatin; the greater the difference in molecular weights between the two gelatins, that is, the wider their molecular weight distribution, the better the quality of the resulting electroplated copper surface. Gelatin with viscosities of 13 and 20 mPa·s, used in combination with thiourea and casein as additives in copper electrolysis, resulted in cathodic copper with low crystallinity, dense grains, no obvious preferred orientation, and a smooth surface.
Gum arabic is generally added in electrowinning copper.