Nowadays, silver based alloys are being specially developed for improving upon tarnish resistance in case of multi-layer stacks. Generally, these alloys have 80-95% silver and employ platinum or gold group metals for stabilizing the properties of silver; especially when used in mildly acidic environments or exposed to moisture. It is easy to find lower cost alloys that showcase a favorable balance between performance and cost. More and more alloys are being experimented with, and they are more complex than standard binary / ternary alloys that are currently in use. These alloys can also be manufactured by using readily available equipment for production.

2. Oft associated with beautiful tableware, coins, and silverware, silver
alloys and pure silver are striving hard to meet an ever-increasing
world demand. From the world of electronics to celebrity circles, this
metal and its alloys are surely in high demand.

3. Here, we take a quick look at how wholesale silver jewelry New
York is making heads turn, mainly because of silver’s unique
attributes.
Silver – the Special Metal

4. Just like gold, also a precious metal, silver is extremely ductile
and malleable. Harder than gold, this lustrous metal is softer than
copper, and can be hammered into sheets that are so thin that an
inch high stack would require at least 100,000 of them for
fulfilling the purpose. Silver boasts of a specific gravity of 10.5, is
harder than gold, and has with a melting point of 960°C / 1760°F -
about 200°F below the melting point of gold.

5. With purity levels that generally goes up to 99.95% (that is nominally
considered 100%), commercially available silver is rarely pure silver.
The main reason behind it being used as an alloy, and not in its
purest form, is that being ductile, goods made of pure silver are
prone to damages. Today, there are several silver alloy compositions
that are being put to use for silver jewellery, or as electrical
conductors and brazing compositions.

6. Addition of Copper to Silver
Appropriately hardened by alloying; in most cases, copper is used as
the favorite metal for improving upon the ductility of silver. Copper is
used for the production of sterling silver, a useful alloy that contains
a minimum of 92.5% silver too. Silver-copper modifications and
eutectic also contain other elements like tin, cadmium, phosphorus,
zinc, and/ or lithium. Widely applied for brazing purposes, especially
where strong joints with relatively good resistance for corrosion are a
must, sterling silver is used in places where higher strength measures
(at elevated temperatures) are required.

7. The “Sterling” Mark
Sterling silver represents the most respected and best known
quality marking that’s in use today. The mark “Sterling” assures
buyers that the silver purchased by them has 92.5% of pure metal
by weight; and there is absolutely no stipulation regarding the
remaining 7.5%.

8. Oxidation of Silver
Silver is known for its affinity for oxygen that increases with
temperature. So, whenever molten silver is exposed to air, it ends
up absorbing about a whopping twenty-two times its total volume
in oxygen. Also, just like silver, copper forms copper-oxide when
exposed to oxygen and depicts a high affinity towards the same
too. This is the reason why air has to be excluded during the entire
casting process; unless internal voids or porosity serve to be a
characteristic of the cast metal. Overall, oxidation has to avoided
when silver-copper alloys or sterling silver are melted for casting
into different products.

9. Application of Silver Alloys
Silver alloys are also intended for industrial applications, wherein
they are generally characterized by their high electrical
conductivity and high mechanical / functional properties. The
silver alloys that are specifically designed for manufacturing
electrical contacts boast of high corrosion /erosion resistance, and
high temperature resistance. Here, alloy additives are being used
for meeting these requirements; especially in the case of products
that require dispersion hardening or precipitation hardening. Such
mechanisms are popular in copper alloys and platinum alloys.

10. Why Silver?
Among the many precious metallic materials that are put into use
in dental applications, such as palladium, gold, and silver; buyers
find significant differences in context with the strength, elasticity
modulus, coefficient of thermal expansion, price, density, melting
temperature, and hardness of these materials. When it comes to
costs, silver alloys are usually regarded as cheaper choices in
relation to other precious materials.

11. ADDRESS
P&K Jewelry, Inc.
1201 Broadway
(Between 28th & 29th Street.)
New York, NY 10001
http://www.pandkjewelry.com/