Who knows what chemicals lurk in tap water? By purifying it, you are removing the unknowns. I have seen, for lack of a better term, Lawrencite disease creep up, especially with tap water that contains chlorine which seems to accelerate the problem. I have had no issues cutting with purified water as long as the contact time has been minimized. I guess purifying it could make the water more acidic but I also monitor the PH level and have not seen much of a difference.
Other alternative coolants such as mineral oil, pure ethyl alcohol or kerosine do not appeal to me anymore, mainly due to fumes, ignition or the smell left in the specimens. Adam ________________________________ From: Carl Agee <[email protected]> To: meteoritelist meteoritelist <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 9:35 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] Water cutting question I have been following the thread on cutting irons in water. My question is, why distilled or purified water rather than tap water? I was under the impression that purified water, i.e. ultrapure water, is much more corrosive than mineralized water like spring water or tap water. In fact, ultrapure water is so corrosive it is often used in clean labs as a cleaning medium for surfaces. Also, the pharmaceutical industry no longer uses stainless steel tubing for ultrapure water because of corrosion -- they use Teflon or polyethylene instead I believe. Wouldn't pure water be worse on iron oxidation than "mineral" water? I can understand using pure water to cut down on trace element contamination for geochemical srtudies, especially on stones, but I don't see how this helps for keeping irons from rusting. Also, while we are at it, what is the best blade for cutting irons? Thanks, Carl Agee -- Carl B. Agee Director and Curator, Institute of Meteoritics Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences MSC03 2050 University of New Mexico Albuquerque NM 87131-1126 Tel: (505) 750-7172 Fax: (505) 277-3577 Email: [email protected] http://meteorite.unm.edu/people/carl_agee/ ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
