The inside scoop on our company and jewelry design.
Posts tagged precious metal casting
Science of Alloying
Feb 11th
An Overview of the Science of Alloying
Definition
An alloy is a homogeneous mixture of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal, and where the resulting material has metallic properties. The resulting metallic substance usually has different properties (sometimes substantially different) from those of its components.
Properties
Alloys are usually prepared to improve on the properties of their components. For instance, steel is stronger than iron, its primary component. The physical properties of an alloy, such as density, reactivity and electrical and thermal conductivity may not differ greatly from the alloy’s elements, but engineering properties, such as tensile strength, shear strength and Young’s modulus (measure of stiffness), can be substantially different from those of the constituent materials. This is sometimes due to the differing sizes of the atoms in the alloy—larger atoms exert a compressive force on neighboring atoms, and smaller atoms exert a tensile force on their neighbors. This helps the alloy resist deformation, unlike a pure metal where the atoms move more freely.
Casting Methods
Feb 10th
There has never been a shortage of companies offering casting services in this vast world of ours. Every reputable caster will start with pure metal and mix a variety of additional metals to create the alloys that the jewelry industry employs every day. So why are there such differences? Obviously there are differences in quality and, in many cases, price.
Since the raw material price is standardized across our globe and set by the metals market, why then do prices vary wildly between casters? We can explore some of the differences by examining a few of the basics of the casting industry.
