Ruthenium Plated Starwalker

[west]

Regarding the "Montblanc, StarWalker Midnight Black" precious resin with ruthenium-plated details.

 

It is reported that ruthenium is highly toxic and carcinogenic .

Ruthenium compounds are encountered relatively rarely by most people.

An article stated that: ( and please google this for yourselves )

That all ruthenium compounds should be regarded as highly toxic and as carcinogenic.

Compounds of ruthenium stain the skin very strongly. It seems that ingested ruthenium is retained strongly in bones. Ruthenium oxide, RuO4, is highly toxic and volatile, and to be avoided.

Rhuthenium 106 is one of the radionuclides involved in atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, which

began in 1945, with a US test, and ended in 1980 with a Chinese test.

It is among the long-lived radionuclides that have produced and will continue to produce increased cancers risk for decades and centuries to come.

I look forward to anyone being able to shed some light on why it is being used by Montblanc ?

[Z-Tab]

Not all Ruthenium is radioactive or dangerous. You should read the full website that you pulled that quote from, it gives potential hazards for practically every element there is, including warning against overexposure to oxygen.

[west]

You may be correct. Not sure what you meant about the reference to oxygen and the ruthenium question ?

 

Perhaps you can help, would know how to find out the specific ruthenium that is used ?.

[Albinoni]

This is scary but the question is, is Montblanc aware of this

[Michael R.]

Nothing to worry about in my opinion!

 

To my knowledge metal ruthenium is non toxic and more or less non-reative (under normal use and conditions).

 

See: http://www.vale.com/EN/business/mining/nickel/product-safety-information/SafetyDataSheets/Ruthenium%20metal%20v2T.pdf

 

Of course some chemicals containing ruthenium are toxic and are also reactive but this is also true for most other elements including gold. Solutions containing gold which are used for electroplating are highly toxic as well but again the resulting coating of electroplated gold is not.

 

On a side note; some ruthenium containing complexes are tested for the pharmaceutical effects against cancer!

 

I've studied chemistry (with a specialization on food & health) and I have no worries handling pure metal ruthenium at all. Of course you need to proceed with caution in case of working with solutions or chemical complexes containing ruthenium among other elements as they may be highly toxic. Every company using such chemical components will be very much aware of this due to safety procedures and data sheets used in chemical industry.

 

 

Time to move on and enjoy your pens If you ever plan on electroplating your own pens with ruthenium you should be del informed and trained to work with hazardous materials on the other hand

 

Cheers

 

Michael

 

 

[hcd615]

Wow, I just got my new Starwalker Midnight Black Fineliner yesterday. I feel safe, I am sure Montblanc is well aware of the components, materials, etc. they are using in their products.

[stevesurf]

Platinum fused with Ruthenium as alloy is a very common way to increase jewelry hardness and strength. In fact, on the hardness scale the alloy is more than three times harder than Platinum!

 

 

Platinum–Ruthenium Alloy Systems: Alloy containing 5% Ruthenium is the choice of jewelry industry in

the production ring blanks, findings parts and other components. It is used to investment cast jewelry parts

as well. However, casting is more difficult than with Platinum–5 Cobalt. It does not fill as well and has a

greater tendency to form micro porosity. It is the most versatile of the 950 Platinum alloys and is usually

the alloy of choice when a manufacture or jeweler wants to have only a single alloy to avoid crosscontamination.

This alloy is available from suppliers in different forms (sheet, wire, tube and grains) to

satisfy the needs of Jewelry industry. Ruthenium addition leads to high degree of hardening effect in this

alloy and satisfies the wear/scratch resistance needs. As the use of application of this alloy increases in the

Jewelry industry, studies are done to understand the machinability of this alloy compared to common karat

gold alloys. Alloys containing up to 10% Ruthenium are used as electrical contacts.

 

 

This is very common and safe in these low percentages.

 

See the study for more info:

https://archive.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1394/36/1394364274753.pdf

[west]

interesting responses Thank you all.

 

FYI , Montblanc Germany acknowledged my email and said they would forward it to the correct department , however 4 months of waiting tells me they won't confirm it is non toxic.

 

Easier to ignore it ..maybe it will go away ?

 

 

 

 

What are the side-effects of Ruthenium?

Ruthenium and its compounds have not been extensively researched but it has been known that Ruthenium compounds are considered to be carcinogenic and toxic. If ingested it is retained in the bones and cannot be digested as our body does not have the enzymes to digest such metal. Being highly reactive direct exposure to skin can cause problems and hence while handling ruthenium proper care should be taken. Its various oxides such as RuO4 is highly toxic and reacts violently.

[Michael R.]

...Ruthenium compounds are considered to be carcinogenic and toxic. ...

 

 

Please note again that there is a huge difference between "metal" ruthenium or alloys containing metal ruthenium and other metals contrary to chemical compounds which contain ruthenium like ruthenium salts!

 

While Ruthenium is a "noble" metal and belongs to the group of platinum group metals it shares their basic properties. Don't get those confused with chemical compounds containing ruthenium like ruthenium salts which can be toxic. And again this is also true for gold; e.g gold salts and you are not supposed to fear gold plated materials either.

 

Cheers

 

Michael