Uses of Hydrofluoric acid

Hydrofluoric acid is an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride, it has a strong corrosive. Because of the hydrogen atoms and fluorine atoms binding capacity is relatively strong, so that hydrofluoric acid can not be completely ionized in water, the low concentration of hydrofluoric acid is a weak acid in theory, but hydrofluoric acid can dissolve the glass which many other acids can not.

Hydrofluoric acid is an important chemical raw materials, Widely used in various areas.
For example , it use widely in Oil refining, In a standard oil refinery process known as alkylation, isobutane is alkylated with low-molecular-weight alkenes in the presence of the strong acid catalyst derived from hydrofluoric acid.

Another use about Hydrofluoric acid is Production of organofluorine compounds, Many organofluorine compounds，including Teflon, fluoropolymers, fluorocarbons and refrigerants are prepared using Hydrofluoric acid as the fluorine source.

The third use is Production of fluorides, Most high-volume inorganic fluoride compounds, such as Na3AlF6, cryolite, and AlF3, aluminium trifluoride are prepared from hydrofluoric acid.

Etchant and cleaning agent is one of most important use of Hydrofluoric acid. Hydrofluoric acid is used as a pickling agent to remove oxides and other impurities from stainless and carbon steels in metalworking. It is used in the semiconductor industry as a major component of Wright Etch and buffered oxide etch, which are use to clean silicon wafers.It is also used to etch glass by reacting with silicon dioxide to form gaseous or water-soluble silicon fluorides.

Hydrofluoric acid has another use in Niche application. Hydrofluoric acid can dissolve most oxides and silicates. Because of this character ,it is useful for dissolving rock samples before to analysis. In similar manner, Hydrofluoric acid is used in acid macerations to extract organic fossils from silicate rocks. Fossiliferous rock may be immersed directly into the acid, or a cellulose nitrate film may be applied (dissolved in amyl acetate), which adheres to the organic component and allows the rock to be dissolved around it.

Some collectors of antique glass bottles also use Hydrofluoric acid to remove so-called 'sickness' from the glass, Because Hydrofluoric acid can attack the soda content of the glass.

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