Aluminum (Al) is violently dissolved in 1, 1, 1-trichloroethane (CCl₃CH₃) once the induction period has passed. In the present paper, the dissolution rate of Al in CCl₃CH₃ was investigated.
It was found that: 1) The dissolution reaction of Al in CCl₃CH₃ was zero-order, as in such liquid organic halides as carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄), trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethane. 2) At temperatures ranging from room temperature to boiling point (347K) of CCl₃CH₃, the activation energy for the dissolution of Al in CCl₃ CH₃ was smaller than that in CCl₄ reported previously, indicating that the reactivity of CCl₃CH₃ to Al is higher than that of CCl₄. 3) When such organic reagents as methyl alcohol, n-buthyl alcohol, sec-buthyl amine, etc., were added as inhibitors in CCl₃CH₃, an increase occurred in the induction period of the reaction but there was no effect on the dissolution rate of Al. 4) CCl₃CH₃ solution to which AlCl₃ was added exhibited electrical conductivity, and based of this observation, the dissolution mechanism could be well explained by the ionic reaction. 5) Dissolution of Al was accompanied by the generation of a large quantity of hydrogen chloride, so it is thought that the dissolution rate of Al was greatly increased by a number of chain reactions.