Sector Focus:Platinum Mesh

Archaeologists cite the era of the ancient Egyptians as the time in which Platinum was first integrated into human life. In fact, the earliest evidence of Platinum dates back almost three thousand years to the famous Casket of Thebes, which was adorned with the precious metal.

It wasn’t until the 1700s, however, that Platinum was introduced to Europe via Spanish explorers who brought it back from the “New World”. 

Today, we know Platinum as a lustrous, malleable and ductile member of the Platinum Group Metals or Precious Metals. The group is composed of six metals (Pt, Pd, Os, Ir, Rh and Ru), yet Platinum is considered the most important. Unaffected by Oxygen and water, it’s soluble only in aqua regia or fused alkalis.

Properties
Platinum Mesh, or gauze, usually consists of woven thin wires of various thicknesses, assembled in a way to form a stable sheet. There are several woven wire mesh weave types, with plain weave and twill weave being the most common. Platinum is a malleable yet unreactive metal, which is resistant to corrosion and has strong stability at high temperatures. The grey-coloured gauze has a high melting point of around 1770 degrees Celsius and a boiling point of around 3825 degrees Celsius, theoretically.
Applications
Applications for Platinum Mesh are many and varied and include:

• Electrical contacts that are subject to high temperatures
• Electrodes for electrochemical and electroanalytical applications, such as crude oil refining and voltammetry
• In the study of chronopotentiometry of Hydrogen Peroxide
• Car exhaust catalysts
• Gas detection instruments
• Jewellery making

Goodfellow’s Platinum Mesh standard products include nominal apertures of 0.4mm, 0.25mm, 0.37mm and 0.12mm, all with a purity level of 99.9%. You can view our full product range and prices here. Goodfellow specialises in custom solutions, so if you have any specific needs or requests, please talk to one of our team and we’ll be happy to help.