I was at a detail supply shop and noticed the ingredient Hydroflouric acid as an Aluminum cleaner. The guy said that it worked great for oxidized rims. The brand was Nanoskin. Anyone ever use this chemical?
Hydroflouric Acid as Aluminum cleaner,deoxidizer
- Thread starter daves66nova
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I use Meguiars Wheel Brightener (in a VERY diluted amount) for wheel cleaning. It is chemically similar.
http://meguiars.com.au/msds_files/D14001.pdf
http://meguiars.com.au/msds_files/D14001.pdf
Hydroflouric acid is extremely dangerous. The flouride will bond to organic material much stronger than oxygen and cause severe damage. It has one of the highest chemical attractions and once it is attached to organic matter there is no way to get it to release. In short, there is no antidote.
Hydroflouric acid can be used to etch copper electronic circuit boards.
There is a story about an accident involving an individual who had a large portion of his body covered with hydroflouric acid. He was washed off but enough of it was absorbed into his system to kill him.
You should always wear rubber gloves and other liquid barrier protective wears such as rubber aprons or even rubber upper garment and rubber pants when working with hydroflouric acid and never allow it to come into contact with your skin. Even a small contamination can attack the area exposed, such as the skin, and underlying bones and joints. It is nothing to fool around with.
Hydroflouric acid can be used to etch copper electronic circuit boards.
There is a story about an accident involving an individual who had a large portion of his body covered with hydroflouric acid. He was washed off but enough of it was absorbed into his system to kill him.
You should always wear rubber gloves and other liquid barrier protective wears such as rubber aprons or even rubber upper garment and rubber pants when working with hydroflouric acid and never allow it to come into contact with your skin. Even a small contamination can attack the area exposed, such as the skin, and underlying bones and joints. It is nothing to fool around with.
I like to use eagle 1 mag wheel cleaner. Same active ingredient. Works really well on bare oxidized aluminum. It will destroy polished/anodized aluminum real quick though.
You could use diluted muratic acid also. Lots of truck washes use hydrofluoric acid based aluminum washes/brighteners. It's pretty standard in that industry.
You could use diluted muratic acid also. Lots of truck washes use hydrofluoric acid based aluminum washes/brighteners. It's pretty standard in that industry.
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JHZR2
Staff member
I wouldnt touch HF unless absolutely necessary, and even then would consider thrice.
Nasty stuff.
Nasty stuff.
Wow! i'm glad a sample that I used months ago was diluted. I used my finger to spread it around a rim a few times.
Also meguiars wheel brightener is water compared to eagle 1 mag wheel cleaner.
I've worked with 90%+ pure HF, tons of it, for decades in the petroleum refining industry as a catalyst. I'd avoid cavalier use of HF as a cleaning agent. The doctors in Texas get most of their practice with HF exposure treating cases from Mexico where it's still used as an automotive radiator cleaner at around 35% solution and who knows what if any PPE. It penetrates through the skin and can cause bone damage, and assaults electrolytes in your blood, so it can give you a heart attack even if the exposure site is nowhere near the heart. You have to make sure gloves and other PPE used around HF are made specifically from HF resistant materials. It will attack stainless steels, usually an alloy called Monel is used in concentrated HF service. I have an extremely high respect for HF and its effects so I'd never use it in any household application. I have responded to HF leaks on a hose team and some of the longest seconds of my life were waiting for team members at the other end of the fire hose to get the water flow started. We kept calcium gluconate on hand to administer until the exposed individual could be taken to the hospital as seconds count.
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It's far better to learn to love your slightly corroded alloys than start playing around with Hydrofluoric Acid, however dilute.
I have a recollection that this stuff, once absorbed in the body, starts doing funny stuff to your nervous system which can plague you for the rest of your lifetime. Seriously folks, AVOID!!
I have a recollection that this stuff, once absorbed in the body, starts doing funny stuff to your nervous system which can plague you for the rest of your lifetime. Seriously folks, AVOID!!
Hydrofluoric acid is one of the most dangerous substances known to man. Corrosive, poisonous, lethal.
As somebody above mentioned, it's used in petrochemical processing.
I'm from Memphis, and, a few years ago, at an oil refinery there, a sight glass in a hydrofluoric acid line or tank burst while a worker was standing there looking at it. I don't know any details why. Anyway, he was sprayed with HF. Tragically, treatments failed and he didn't make it. He was a good friend of a friend of mine.
As somebody above mentioned, it's used in petrochemical processing.
I'm from Memphis, and, a few years ago, at an oil refinery there, a sight glass in a hydrofluoric acid line or tank burst while a worker was standing there looking at it. I don't know any details why. Anyway, he was sprayed with HF. Tragically, treatments failed and he didn't make it. He was a good friend of a friend of mine.
Nygotha hit it... if you get this stuff on your skin, it will start eating away... and doesn't stop until it has reacted with enough calcium to neutralize the solution. You can guess where it ends up getting the calcium from...
I've read somewhere there is a potential hazard with car fires if fluorinated rubbers or plastics are present, since they can break down to form fluoric acid.
I've posted a couple of times lately about being a bit concerned about using it on brakes in case they get abnormally hot. Apparently PTFE is present in Volvo brake grease.
I've posted a couple of times lately about being a bit concerned about using it on brakes in case they get abnormally hot. Apparently PTFE is present in Volvo brake grease.
I'm a chemist and regularly handle some pretty nasty stuff including other elemental halogens(mostly bromine).
I keep a small amount of HF on hand, but it's on my "don't even touch unless absolutely necessary" list of chemicals. It's a chemical that I will search for ANY alternative to and only use it as a last resort.
When I do, I use heavy nitrile gauntlet type gloves and then put a standard blue nitrile(like I use for routine work) over top of them. I also wear a disposable lab coat over my standard one.
As others have said, it can do REALLY bad things to you if you get it on your skin.
I keep a small amount of HF on hand, but it's on my "don't even touch unless absolutely necessary" list of chemicals. It's a chemical that I will search for ANY alternative to and only use it as a last resort.
When I do, I use heavy nitrile gauntlet type gloves and then put a standard blue nitrile(like I use for routine work) over top of them. I also wear a disposable lab coat over my standard one.
As others have said, it can do REALLY bad things to you if you get it on your skin.
I used to work in a Silicon Wafer Fab making Integrated Circuit.
They use a lot of HF solutions at different concentration to etch and clean the silicon wafer.
The person whose job is dipping the wafer into these solutions wears 3 layers of gloves out of different materials.
The outer gloves is all the way to the elbow, this is on top of Clean Room suit which basically covers the whole body except the eyes (we wear protective safety eye glasses). The people that deals with HF, also wear a goggles on top of the protective safety eye glasses.
When I started to go into the fab as an engineer, 90% of the training was a don't mess with HF.
"It is actually can eat your flesh aka skin and suck out all the Calcium from the body." (in layman's term).
Here is a CDC link:
https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/hydrofluoricacid/basics/facts.asp
IMO, don't even try to use it at the comfort of your home or garage.
As probably said by most of the subsequent post in this thread.
They use a lot of HF solutions at different concentration to etch and clean the silicon wafer.
The person whose job is dipping the wafer into these solutions wears 3 layers of gloves out of different materials.
The outer gloves is all the way to the elbow, this is on top of Clean Room suit which basically covers the whole body except the eyes (we wear protective safety eye glasses). The people that deals with HF, also wear a goggles on top of the protective safety eye glasses.
When I started to go into the fab as an engineer, 90% of the training was a don't mess with HF.
"It is actually can eat your flesh aka skin and suck out all the Calcium from the body." (in layman's term).
Here is a CDC link:
https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/hydrofluoricacid/basics/facts.asp
IMO, don't even try to use it at the comfort of your home or garage.
As probably said by most of the subsequent post in this thread.
Very much THIS. Fluorine isn't your average halogen element.... and hydrofluoric acid isn't your average acid. Would rather spill sulfuric acid on myself than hydrofluoric acid!! When >40% HF acid solutions are exposed to air, it off gasses hydrogen fluoride gas, which is just as dangerous if not more so with the inhalation risk.
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Hydroflouric acid is extremely dangerous. The flouride will bond to organic material much stronger than oxygen and cause severe damage. It has one of the highest chemical attractions and once it is attached to organic matter there is no way to get it to release. In short, there is no antidote.
Hydroflouric acid can be used to etch copper electronic circuit boards.
There is a story about an accident involving an individual who had a large portion of his body covered with hydroflouric acid. He was washed off but enough of it was absorbed into his system to kill him.
You should always wear rubber gloves and other liquid barrier protective wears such as rubber aprons or even rubber upper garment and rubber pants when working with hydroflouric acid and never allow it to come into contact with your skin. Even a small contamination can attack the area exposed, such as the skin, and underlying bones and joints. It is nothing to fool around with.
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Hydroflouric acid is extremely dangerous. The flouride will bond to organic material much stronger than oxygen and cause severe damage. It has one of the highest chemical attractions and once it is attached to organic matter there is no way to get it to release. In short, there is no antidote.
Hydroflouric acid can be used to etch copper electronic circuit boards.
There is a story about an accident involving an individual who had a large portion of his body covered with hydroflouric acid. He was washed off but enough of it was absorbed into his system to kill him.
You should always wear rubber gloves and other liquid barrier protective wears such as rubber aprons or even rubber upper garment and rubber pants when working with hydroflouric acid and never allow it to come into contact with your skin. Even a small contamination can attack the area exposed, such as the skin, and underlying bones and joints. It is nothing to fool around with.
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Originally Posted By: daves66nova
I was at a detail supply shop and noticed the ingredient Hydroflouric acid as an Aluminum cleaner. The guy said that it worked great for oxidized rims. The brand was Nanoskin. Anyone ever use this chemical?
Los Angeles still in California?
That's the same state that (probably quite rightly, IMO) recently ruled coffee had to be labelled a carcinogen?
And they sell this stuff to untrained punters who want to make their wheels prettier?
That's fairly astonishing, although if it happened Here I'd not be in the least surprised.
I was at a detail supply shop and noticed the ingredient Hydroflouric acid as an Aluminum cleaner. The guy said that it worked great for oxidized rims. The brand was Nanoskin. Anyone ever use this chemical?
Los Angeles still in California?
That's the same state that (probably quite rightly, IMO) recently ruled coffee had to be labelled a carcinogen?
And they sell this stuff to untrained punters who want to make their wheels prettier?
That's fairly astonishing, although if it happened Here I'd not be in the least surprised.
Very surprised to see HFA in any consumer product. Very surprised.
Flourine ocuppies a very, very special place in the periodic table....
Flourine ocuppies a very, very special place in the periodic table....
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