how to turn glass into a mirror

[lovicodo]

hi to all,

i have some questions about glass silvering;
i found this procedure:
1) make a solution (A) with 1.4 gr silver nitrate + 17gr water
then, add to the solution 1.2gr of ammonia 26% solution

2) make a solution (B) with 9.2 gr potassium bitartrate + 4gr sodium carbonate + 17gr water

3) make a solution (C) made of 5gr (A) + 5gr (B) + 100gr water

4) put a very clean glass sheet (*) in solution (C) , and leave it in the solution until the glass silvering is done.

(*) the glass must be very clean before silvering :
to clean it, wash it with a 6% tin chloride solution,
then rinse it with hot water.

The author claims that with this procedure is possible to silver also plastic with very smooth surfaces.

The questions are:

1) Do you think that this procedure can really work also for plastics?

2) How can i make the plastic surface clean (and smooth)?
do you think that the 6% tin chloride solution is suitable also for plastics, or does need another cleaner?

I am interested in plastics such as PLA,ABS,PETG; i have read somewhere that PETG is more suitable than the others...

P.S: this is my first post in this forum,
i am sorry if i have posted the question in a wrong forum section, in this case i ask to moderator  to move it in the right place...

Thank you!
Lodovico

[chenbeier]

The experiment stays above the theory. Try it out. Clean the surface with som alcohol. Sometimes roughness of the surface helps. Etching with alcaline Permanganate / acidic permanganate.