Here we go, this is a tad technical for the first couple of sentences but i'll do my best to explain.
Metals can be ordered into a reactivity series by how easily they react with other elements (Reactivity series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Nichrome is a nickel-chromium alloy with a relatively low reactivity. But as we all know it oxidizes fairly well in your atty (sped up by the intense heat) and your atty slowly turns to nickel chromite.
BUT aluminum is higher on the series than nickel and chromium and is therefore a much better oxidizer in the presence of acid.
Theoretically you should be able to make an acidic solution (not extremely acidic just like lemon juice acidic) roll up some aluminum foil, jam it in your atty (make sure not to break anything but that the aluminum is touching as much of the nichrome as possible), put it in the lemon juice completely submerged and then let it sit.
The oxygen attached to the chromium in your atomizer is more stable when bonded to aluminum and will slowly leach into the foil, leaving the nichrome oxide free.
Like i said, that is theoretical and I haven't tried it yet so I don't know how long you'd need to let it sit, i'd think no longer than an hour depending on how much surface area of the nichrome is actually in contact with the aluminum. I'm heading out soon to grab some foil and some lemon juice to try.
I thought of this while reading how to remove silver tarnish and a bunch of people were suggesting the same thing, aluminum foil + weak acid + ring in a cup. The aluminum pulls off the silver sulfate bonded to the silver that makes it look discolored.
Also, I've heard people yelling back and forth about whether or not the coke cleaning method works. This could very well be the reason why it does for some. I'm betting the people it worked for did it in a metal pan and used the coke acted as the acidic solution to let the oxide plate out of the atty.
Metals can be ordered into a reactivity series by how easily they react with other elements (Reactivity series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Nichrome is a nickel-chromium alloy with a relatively low reactivity. But as we all know it oxidizes fairly well in your atty (sped up by the intense heat) and your atty slowly turns to nickel chromite.
BUT aluminum is higher on the series than nickel and chromium and is therefore a much better oxidizer in the presence of acid.
Theoretically you should be able to make an acidic solution (not extremely acidic just like lemon juice acidic) roll up some aluminum foil, jam it in your atty (make sure not to break anything but that the aluminum is touching as much of the nichrome as possible), put it in the lemon juice completely submerged and then let it sit.
The oxygen attached to the chromium in your atomizer is more stable when bonded to aluminum and will slowly leach into the foil, leaving the nichrome oxide free.
Like i said, that is theoretical and I haven't tried it yet so I don't know how long you'd need to let it sit, i'd think no longer than an hour depending on how much surface area of the nichrome is actually in contact with the aluminum. I'm heading out soon to grab some foil and some lemon juice to try.
I thought of this while reading how to remove silver tarnish and a bunch of people were suggesting the same thing, aluminum foil + weak acid + ring in a cup. The aluminum pulls off the silver sulfate bonded to the silver that makes it look discolored.
Also, I've heard people yelling back and forth about whether or not the coke cleaning method works. This could very well be the reason why it does for some. I'm betting the people it worked for did it in a metal pan and used the coke acted as the acidic solution to let the oxide plate out of the atty.
