Detailed Product Description:

 

A white crystalline powder.  Soluble in cold water.

 

Commonly used for etching glass or in electropolishing.

 

 

Grade/Purity:

 

This is Reagent Grade material with a minimum purity of 99%.

 

 

Background:

 

Ammonium fluoride can be derived by neutralizing ammonia with

 

hydrofluoric acid.  It crystallizes as small prisms, having a sharp saline

 

taste, and is exceedingly soluble in water.

 

 

Ammonium fluoride decomposes silicates, and thus glass, on being

 

heated with them, a property shared among all soluble fluorides.  For

 

this reason it cannot be handled in glass test tubes or apparatus during

 

laboratory work.  It also sublimes when heated—a property common

 

among ammonium salts.  

 

 

Ammonium fluoride adopts the wurtzite crystal structure, in which both

 

the ammonium cations and the fluoride anions are stacked in ABABAB

 

layers, each being tetrahedrally surrounded by four of the other.  There are

 

NH...F hydrogen bonds between the anions and cations.

 

 

On passing hydrogen fluoride gas (in excess) through the salt, ammonium

 

fluoride absorbs the gas to form the addition compound ammonium hydrogen

 

fluoride (ammonium bifluoride).

 

 

Applications:

 

This substance is commonly called "commercial ammonium fluoride".  The

 

word "neutral" is sometimes added to "ammonium fluoride" to represent the

 

neutral salt.  As the acid salt contains a higher percentage of fluoride by mass,

 

it is usually used in preference to the neutral salt in the etching of glass.

 

 

It is also used for preserving wood, as a mothproofing agent, in printing and

 

dying textiles, and as an antiseptic in breweries.

 

 

Precautions:

 

Toxic.  May be fatal if ingested, or inhaled.  Corrosive to tissue.  May be

 

absorbed through skin.  Download, read and understand the precautions

 

associated with this compound before use.

 

 

Click here to download copy of MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)

 

 

Packaging:

 

Contents of 200 grams comes packed in 250ml sized wide-mouth

 

HDPE Nalgene bottle.