"Bob Edwards" wrote in message
m...
"Harold & Susan Vordos" wrote in message
...
snip------

White gold
has NO silver, only gold, nickel or palladium. Gold and silver
combined
yield green. Go figure!

Harold

Hi, Harold:

Some white gold alloys DO have silver in them -- I use an 18kt
palladium white alloy from PM West that is 75% gold, 15% palladium,
and 10% silver. It's a nice, very workable alloy with good white
color.

Regards,

Bob

Hey Bob,

That one's new for me. In all my years of refining I don't recall every
consciously seeing it, but it could have easily slipped through the cracks
when mixed with old dental alloys and jewelry waste. Dental alloys almost
always have at least a trace of palladium. Palladium in solution is hard
to miss, being very dark in color, like very strong coffee, unlike platinum
or gold. When it's present, there's no mistaking it.

I think what surprises me more than anything is the claim that it works
well. Silver is added in combination with the platinum group metals to
dental alloys to toughen them. They are not known for their malleability,
but palladium and silver combined may not react that way without platinum
present. I know that silver destroys the malleability of platinum.

Very interesting report, Bob, and I thank you. I can only assume that the
presence of the palladium overrides the ability of silver to turn the alloy
green. Regardless, it's always been interesting to me that an alloy that
is predominantly gold can be turned white by the addition of only 25% of
other elements.

Harold