Test: Metal Section, Acidic Ink --> Eye Dropper

[southpaw]

Yeah, I been a baaaaaaad boy! We all know metal sections slam the door shut on a pen being useable as an eye dropper. The science is sound. An acid will corrode metal. The more acidic the ink, the faster the reaction.

 

Instead of spending a bunch of loooong hours modeling it, I decided to do it the old fashioned way: experiment. The items involved are:

 

Diamine Blue Velvet (pH 2.42 per Richard Binder's article on ink pH) - one of the more acidic inks.

 

A Penbbs bluish green demonstrator. As a newrelatively cheap fp, it minimizes my investment, isnt causing the loss of a vintage pen, is a pen I like, and will let me see what's going on inside. Nothing agsinst this pen or brand: i have 3 others.

 

I started about 30 minutes ago. Curious to see how long it will take. I plan in updating this post from time to time.

[Noihvo]

[Karas Kustoms]

We ran an eyedropper test one our of our raw aluminum fountain pens with Noodler's Bad Blue Heron. After 95 days of no corrosion and constant ability to write on contact with paper, we abandoned the test. That being said, the ink did in fact stain the section threads and inside of the aluminum barrel to the point that it was impossible to remove the stain. But there was no permanent acidic corrosion or other issues.

[Noihvo]

We ran an eyedropper test on our of our raw aluminum fountain pens with Noodler's Bad Blue Heron. After 95 days of no corrosion and constant ability to write on contact with paper, we abandoned the test. That being said, the ink did in fact stain the section threads and inside of the aluminum barrel to the point that it was impossible to remove the stain. But there was no permanent acidic corrosion or other issues.

 

[Corona688]

No such thing as raw aluminum unless you live under an argon atmosphere, as aluminum self-passivates, generating its own protective coating. Anodizing will make the oxide coating even thicker, but it's always there.

 

So whether metal sections are a death knell really depends on what the metal sections are made of.

[Karas Kustoms]

I apologize with my use of the term "raw" aluminum I was merely using simplistic terms to be better understood. We used non-anodized or treated 6061-T6 aluminum in the pen we tested.

[southpaw]

We ran an eyedropper test one our of our raw aluminum fountain pens with Noodler's Bad Blue Heron. After 95 days of no corrosion and constant ability to write on contact with paper, we abandoned the test. That being said, the ink did in fact stain the section threads and inside of the aluminum barrel to the point that it was impossible to remove the stain. But there was no permanent acidic corrosion or other issues.

Noodles inks, at least from a corrosion perspective, would be among the best, as they are very pH neutral. That was one of Nathan Tardiff's goals.

[senzen]

No such thing as raw aluminum unless you live under an argon atmosphere, as aluminum self-passivates, generating its own protective coating. Anodizing will make the oxide coating even thicker, but it's always there.

 

 

I have no idea if what you're saying is right but it sure sounds convincing. Corona688 for president! Of the inky loonie asylum, but still.

[Mech-for-i]

For best ( or worst depending on the POV ) the experiment should be carried out with traditional Iron Gall ink ( not the modern variety ). Its the single primary reason why we have gold nibs .. did it not tell you something

[Karas Kustoms]

If given a never ending supply of pens, one would ideally test every ink with every pen/material. We wanted to see what the problems would be with a rather popular ink brand. If I were to do it on my own pen, I would choose the ink I eyedropper the most with. Testing it on an ink you either a. never use, or b. can't easily purchase, seems a bit over the top.

[wallylynn]

 

For best ( or worst depending on the POV ) the experiment should be carried out with traditional Iron Gall ink ( not the modern variety ). Its the single primary reason why we have gold nibs .. did it not tell you something

 

 

I thought it was because stainless steel wasn't yet invented. Plain steel corrodes just from the humidity in the air.

[southpaw]

For best ( or worst depending on the POV ) the experiment should be carried out with traditional Iron Gall ink ( not the modern variety ). Its the single primary reason why we have gold nibs .. did it not tell you something

I did it with the most acidic ink on Richard's list that I had on hand. There are numerous ways the experiment could be improved. This was just a quick curiosity.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

In my experience, it isn't necessarily the acidity of the ink we need to worry about with pens. Although pH can affect metal parts, depending on the composition of the dyes itself, sometimes the dye can attack the plastic. Even if the ink is pH neutral certain dyes can cause plastics to disintegrate or stress crack depending on the type of plastic involved.

 

With iron gall inks though, I have a few interesting experiences where it caused the plating on a 21K gold nib to peel off. I think Sailor sometimes plates gold nibs to make them more yellow or change the color.

 

Dillon