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Student's Dictionary
A mix of topics, references and commentary by Iris.
What other topics would you like to see? Email Iris
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Gold
Palladium (Pd) Alloyed with Gold
Adding palladium to gold has been around since the turn of the 20th century, but is becoming more popular. The reasons for palladium's popularity are the white color, its less expensive than platinum, and it is very malleable. Like nickel, palladium serves as the bleaching agent to achieve a white gold color.
Adding palladium to gold has many benefits but there are challenges. Casting palladium white gold is very challenging because it has extremely high flask and melt temperatures. When casting palladium white gold we recommend using platinum investment rather than the normal gold investments.
When fabricating with palladium white gold sheet or wire, again the challenge is to use a higher temperature. Because of this challenge we recommend using low temperature platinum solder instead of karat white gold solders when soldering.
From David H. Fell & Company, Inc.
Winter 2006 Volume 16 Number 1
Silver (Ag) Alloyed with Gold
When silver is added to gold in sufficient quantities the result is a greenish gold. Like the other metals, the higher the silver content, the greener the gold is.
Compared to red and white karat gold alloys, green gold alloys have many casting and fabrication benefits. Because of the silver content, green gold has a higher flow rate, which means a redution in the flask and casting temperatures. Another benefit of green gold, when cast, is it can be cooled either by quenching from red heat, naturally air colling, or quenching from black heat.
Fabricating in green gold is superb because the silver content makes sheet and wire extremely malleable. With the silver content, green gold is highly suitable for reticulation.
From David H. Fell & Company, Inc.
Winter 2006 Volume 16 Number 1
Zinc (Zn) Alloyed with Gold
Zinc isn't often used as the primary constituent in an alloy. It is used as an additive to couteract some of the negative attributes of other metals. When zinc is combined along with silver, copper, nickel or palladium it lowers the melting temperatures of the alloys. Other quanlities of zinc are its ability to enhance the color of low karat gold, increase the whiteness of white gold, and act as a deoxidizer.
Typically, many karat gold alloys will have some percentage of zinc in it. If there is zinc in the alloy, reticulation will not be possible. And if there is more than 2% in an alloy then enameling will not be possible.
From David H. Fell & Company, Inc.
Winter 2006 Volume 16 Number 1 |
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Silver
Hill Tribes Silver
Hill Tribes Silver, comes from the northern hills of Thailand and the jewelry and components are "completely handmade of silver." They add that "these assay to about 96-98% purity." And the items are "made by indigenous tribe, thus preesrving their ancient heritage and traditions." Disclosure is one of the characteristics of the Fire Mountain Gem's company that I value, i.e. they inform you of the quality of their goods. Note that 96% to 98% translates into .960-.980 on a 1,000 point scale of silver purity.
Fire Mountain Gems
April-June 2006 catalogue (pgs 4 & 5) |
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