Vintage caps cross section

[crispycircuit]

Most interesting! Keep us inform of your findings......

 

[Binkman]

Never seen anyone who put that much effort into cap dissection analysis before..

worth a bump! :thmbsp:

 

[EchoWars]

Electrolytic caps do NOT contain PCB's and never have. SOME oil-filled caps used in tube gear did contain PCB's. This style:

did indeed use PCB's back in the 50's and 60's, but it is not a common material to find, even in vintage tube gear.

 

[Mico]

That is a good news, I was a bit worried what caused throat irritation but hope it was just acid.

 

[EchoWars]

The electrolyte is usually boric acid or sodium borate in aqueous solution, together with various sugars or ethylene glycol which are added to retard evaporation. (Wikipedia).

Pretty mild stuff. Just wash it off.

 

[roger2]

Interesting thread @Mico

Coincidentally, I posted the results of a similar comparison, also in 2013 and a few months after your posting. At the time I had not been not aware of this thread.

As our investigations were so similar, I thought that it might be good to link the the two threads for the convenience of any future readers:
Large capacitors, old and new, cut in half to look inside - electrolyte