Palladium Chloride Mixing

[Craig Alan Huber]

I'm mixing up some Palladium solution to print with (hopefully today). I'm starting with Palladium Chloride powder that I got several years ago in a bulk purchase several palladium printers went in on. Arentz' book suggests 10mg Palladium Chloride with 50ml water heated to 100 degrees F will make an approx. 20% solution. I started with this last night and still cannot get all the powder to go into solution. I tried re-heating a couple of times in a microwave, up to approx 120F but still have particulates in the solution. Could it be over-saturated?

[Eric James]

10 milligrams or 10 grams? 10 grams brought to a volume of 50ml would give you a 20% w/v solution. 10mg would cover the head of a thumb tack and make a 0.2% solution.

[Eric James]

Info at this link may help:

http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/...lt/platino.htm

[Craig Alan Huber]

Thanks for the source pointer and other advice, Eric. Quoting from the source ...

"The most economical method is to use palladium chloride (PdCl2) in combination with sodium chloride in solution. 3.5 grams of sodium chloride are dissolved in 55ml. of warm distilled water and then 5.0 grams of palladium chloride are added and stirred until dissolved."

The ingredient I left out was sodium chloride. I also notice the source is recommending an approx 10% solution. I want to match what Bostick&Sullivan normally sells so I will consult with them on the % solution. And yes, I did mean 10g not 10mg :-)

-Craig

[Eric James]

I know next to nothing about the process but one of the sites suggested that PdCl2's aqueous solubility is poor and that the use of a co-salt enhances solubility, hence the role of the NaCl. Anyway, I'm glad you're making progress. I see we're neighbors - we live in LFP. Good luck! Eric

[Craig Alan Huber]

Since the source quoted suggests a solution that is approx 10%, I am now wondering how much difference the solution % will make in a print. I have mixed at 20% in the past (a few memory cells from 2006 when I last mixed are kicking in, telling me I actually did add NaCl back then), but I know of one other excellent Palladium printer that uses a 15% solution. Does anyone mix a 10% solution and get good printing results? It may be time for some experimenting ...

Craig

P.S. Eric - had no idea you were so close ... perhaps we could arrange a meeting some time?

[Kerik Kouklis]

Craig if you're starting with Palladium II Chloride (ie not sodium palladium chloride), you also need to add sodium chloride (table salt). I've always used these proportions:

5 gm palladium chloride
3.5 gm sodium chloride (non-iodized)
distilled or deionized water to make a total of 55 ml of solution

Kerik

[Craig Alan Huber]

Thanks Kerik. Your advice matches the source Eric provided, John Rudiak from View Camera January / February 1994. I have seen your prints and if this is how you are mixing Palladium solution (approx 10% solution), you are certainly getting good results. Just for fun I may try a 15% and a 20% solution (assuming I can get the metal salt to go into solution) and see how it affects the print. Someone else may have already done this experiment and if they would like to share results, great.

-Craig

[Michael Mutmansky]

Craig,

I've done some of that in the past. Going to a higher concentration allows you to increase the palladium density per unit of H2O, which will subtly increase the dmax of the print. However, to do that, you need to increase the amount of FO you are using proportionally, because you need to keep the amounts of PD and FO about the same in the solution to keep the chemical reactins balanced.

So, increasing the PD without increasing the FO will not really result in any benefit.

---Michael

[Craig Alan Huber]

I see that B&S offers a "Palladium Chloride No.3 Standard" mix that is a 15% solution.

As for the FO they sell, I see a 27% solution (for pd/pt) and another 20% solution (for kallitype).

Michael - When you refer to increasing the amount of FO proportionally to Palladium Chloride, could you elaborate a bit? I would like to try a mix of 15% solution Palladium Chloride as an experiment compared to the 10% solution. But what mix of FO would that imply for each? Would I be changing the ratio of each solution for coating the print? For straight Pd printing I usually go with the same number of drops of FO as Palladium Chloride. Sorry to be so dense on this ...

Thanks,
Craig