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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Oldhoopster, post: 4665723, member: 84179&quot;]According to researchers at SUNY Stony Brook, when copper is exposed to acetone in the presence of water vapor and light, AND the acetone was allowed to completely evaporate, acetic acid will SLOWLY form (their words).&nbsp; The acetic acid then can react with the copper metal to form copper acetate.&nbsp; Copper(III) acetate is blue or bluish green.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, when the experiment was done under the same conditions in the dark, no acetic acid formed.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>So what does this mean for the average collector using acetone to remove PVC plasticizer residue from copper.&nbsp; To avoid forming copper acetate, this is what I do </p><p><br /></p><p>* Only soak for short periods of time.&nbsp; I do 15 min max.&nbsp; If you feel the need to soak longer, put the sealed container in a dark, cool place.&nbsp; Remember, the researchers said the reaction will not occur if there is no light</p><p>* Don&#039;t let the acetone completely evaporate.&nbsp; If this happens to you, you need to start paying more attention to what you&#039;re doing.</p><p>* Avoid using in humid conditions (although I would have no problems if using a short soak)</p><p>* Use clean acetone.&nbsp; </p><p>* After the initial soak, rinse quickly with fresh acetone.&nbsp; Remember, the junk that was once on your coin is now floating around in the solvent and can redeposit when you pull it out (or if you let it evaporate)</p><p>* I like to rinse with Distilled water.&nbsp; Others have said this step is not needed, and I have no reason to dispute that.&nbsp; However, I feel better knowing that I&#039;ve done everything I can to remove any remaining residue.&nbsp; </p><p>* IMPORTANT: Don&#039;t play with chemicals if you aren&#039;t familiar with handling them.&nbsp; Acetone is flammible, evaporates quickly, will damage many countertops and plastic pipes, and can dry out your skin.&nbsp; <u>You can get in real trouble very quickly if you don&#039;t know what your doing</u></p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t disagree that others have had problems using acetone on copper, and based in this research, it could happen.&nbsp; But that research can also provide steps to minimize/eliminate those risks.&nbsp; That&#039;s why I feel using acetone on copper is not a problem.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>This is a summary of the article in a SUNY Stony Brook publication. </p><p><a href="https://www.stonybrook.edu/vescalab/research/research7.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.stonybrook.edu/vescalab/research/research7.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.stonybrook.edu/vescalab/research/research7.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>[USER=15199]@desertgem[/USER] the full article appears to be published in a peer reviewed journal, but I don&#039;t have access to it.&nbsp; I also saw another article from the authors making similar conclusions regarding aluminum alloys containing approx 5% copper when cleaned with acetone and exposed to Cl ions.&nbsp; That research was sponsored by the Air Force[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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