Title: ageing of precipitate
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - ageing of precipitate
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.A00180
Status: current

Definition
The time-dependent change of those properties of a precipitate, e.g. loss of water, growth of crystals, recrystallization, decrease of the specific surface, loss of coprecipitated substances, which generally improve the filtering properties. The process of ageing is very often promoted by maintaining the precipitate and precipitation medium together at elevated temperatures for a period of time. The terms chemical, physical and thermal ageing may be used in cases in which some of the (usually combined) effects named above are to be emphasized specifically.

Related Terms
- precipitation: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04795
- recrystallization: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05208

Source
- Orange Book, 2nd ed., p. 86 (https://media.iupac.org/publications/analytical_compendium/)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00180/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00180/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00180/xml

Citation: Citation: 'ageing of precipitate' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.A00180
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Accessed: 2026-05-12T16:20:11+00:00