Development of a New AuCuZnGe Alloy and Determination of Its Corrosion Properties
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- The white Au alloy has a 14 karat (58.5 wt.%) gold content, a widely-used white Au alloy for general jewelry production.
- The Au alloy should be made as white as possible, reducing the need for additional whitening steps for the final jewelry products with galvanic coatings.
- Germanium content should be kept as low as possible, due to its effects on the alloy’s brittleness and hardness.
- The germanium alloy (as a prealloy) should be implemented easily in noble metal alloy production processes (casting, mechanical treatment, rolling, soldering for jewelry).
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results and Discussions
3.1. SEM/EDX Observations
3.2. XRD Analysis
3.3. Corrosion Behavior
4. Conclusions
- It was concluded that during the initial immersion period of 1 h, the alloy established corrosion potential of ~20 mV (SCE), with an estimated corrosion current density lower than 2 × 10−7 A cm−2.
- During the prolonged immersion, complex copper reactions on the alloy surfaces occurred, which led to a decrease in the initial copper contents on the surface. The alloy’s behavior was stabilized after 24 h.
- Using the EDS before and after alloy oxidation, it was concluded that only copper dissolved slightly from the alloy’s surface.
- According to the ADA classification system and our previous works, it was concluded that the investigated new AuCuZnGe alloy belongs to the first group of stability and represents a high noble alloy.
- Even the investigated AuCuZnGe alloy shows acceptable corrosion stability, for the commercialization a lot of work has to be done, mainly in understanding the role of the Ge in the alloy.
5. Patents
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Spectrum | Cu | Zn | Ge | Au | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | 33.44 | 2.64 | 1.79 | 62.13 | 100.00 |
Std. Deviation | 0.48 | 0.14 | 0.37 | 0.32 | |
Max. | 33.85 | 2.88 | 2.35 | 62.59 | |
Min. | 32.51 | 2.50 | 1.33 | 61.78 |
Spectrum | Cu | Zn | Ge | Au | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | 28.47 | 4.23 | 4.09 | 63.21 | 100.00 |
Std. Deviation | 0.40 | 0.24 | 0.54 | 0.73 | |
Max. | 29.06 | 4.55 | 4.75 | 64.51 | |
Min. | 27.99 | 3.95 | 3.48 | 62.37 |
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Rudolf, R.; Majerič, P.; Lazić, V.; Grgur, B. Development of a New AuCuZnGe Alloy and Determination of Its Corrosion Properties. Metals 2022, 12, 1284. https://doi.org/10.3390/met12081284
Rudolf R, Majerič P, Lazić V, Grgur B. Development of a New AuCuZnGe Alloy and Determination of Its Corrosion Properties. Metals. 2022; 12(8):1284. https://doi.org/10.3390/met12081284
Chicago/Turabian StyleRudolf, Rebeka, Peter Majerič, Vojkan Lazić, and Branimir Grgur. 2022. "Development of a New AuCuZnGe Alloy and Determination of Its Corrosion Properties" Metals 12, no. 8: 1284. https://doi.org/10.3390/met12081284