Decorations
- Alloy composition
- Why does white gold turn yellow?
- What products should not be used to clean white gold?
- How to care for white gold?
Jewelry made from ordinary gold has not surprised anyone for a long time, so products made from white precious metal are becoming increasingly popular.
This type of gold looks like silver or platinum, but has the ability to change color. Such changes can be noticed after 2-3 years: the gold begins to turn yellow, which gives the jewelry a careless appearance. However, not everyone knows why this happens and how to prevent it.
Adele in white gold and diamond earrings
Why white gold may turn yellow
A white gold bracelet or chain has turned yellow - the question immediately arises: why? There are several reasons for the appearance of a yellowish tint:
- We wear and sweat for a long time. Rarely does anyone think about this, but human sweat is saturated with various salts and acids. When interacting with metals, it is a good reagent. If a person sweats frequently, his precious metal jewelry will turn yellow. It is recommended not to wear jewelry during hot weather or during excessive physical activity. Another reason for sweating is hormonal imbalance. Adolescents and women during pregnancy, breastfeeding and menopause may sweat profusely. Sweating may be a result of your body eliminating medications you are taking. In all these cases, wearing gold jewelry is not recommended.
- Rhodium has expired. Although rhodium plating is a reliable process, it is short-lived. As a result of friction with the skin, the rhodium can wear off. Therefore, after 3-5 years, it is recommended that gold items be rhodium-plated again.
- Mechanical damage. Gold jewelry cannot be constantly ground and polished, especially on your own. These actions lead to yellowing of the jewelry, as well as scratches on it.
- Cleaning with abrasives. At home, when cleaning gold, substances such as salt and soda are often used. They really effectively clean products from dirt and restore their former shine, but they do it indelicately. Salt and soda may leave scratches.
How to return whiteness to a product, what to do, methods of prevention
It is easier to prevent any problem than to eliminate the consequences. To prevent white gold from turning yellow, you need to store it properly and take care of it in a timely manner. Simple preventive measures can help maintain noble whiteness:
- All existing jewelry must be stored separately. White gold in one container, classic yellow in another. Silver, precious stones and jewelry are stored separately. You can keep jewelry in their original boxes. You can purchase special cabinets for jewelry.
- It is necessary to prevent the decoration from coming into contact with chemicals. If your hands are treated with cream, the rings from your fingers must be removed. All jewelry is removed during water procedures, when swimming in pools and reservoirs, when visiting baths and saunas. If the house is cleaned using detergents and cleaning products, then this should also be done without jewelry.
- It is not recommended to polish gold items yourself. The damaged structure of a ring or bracelet is almost impossible to restore. It's better to trust the jeweler. A specialist will polish the precious metal using special tools and products. Taking a gold ring to a jeweler for polishing is much cheaper than buying a new one later.
As you can see, caring for white gold is quite simple. Timely preventive measures will extend the life of gold jewelry for many years.
How to maintain rhodium plating as long as possible?
In order to avoid rapid damage to the coating , you just need to follow a few simple rules.
- Avoid mechanical damage to rhodium-plated products. Under no circumstances should you attempt to polish or sand them. This will erase or ruin the protective layer.
- If possible, it is best to store such accessories separately from other jewelry to avoid friction or exposure to other metals. To do this, you can simply use separate bags, boxes or cases.
- Do not wear the product for too long to avoid contact with sweat, which can corrode the rhodium plating over time.
- Protect jewelry from contact with aggressive chemicals: chemicals, acids, detergents, cosmetics, perfumes and creams. Take them off when visiting the pool, solarium, before taking a shower, washing dishes or cleaning.
- Carry out easy and gentle cleaning of products. Either using special products that can be purchased in jewelry stores or from craftsmen, or simply rinse with running water. When cleaning, you can use a sponge or soft, lint-free cloth. After the procedure, be sure to dry thoroughly by placing it on a dry towel. When cleaning at home, you should never use toothpaste or tooth powder, ammonia or soda. With their help you can polish and clean only some products without coatings.
If you take care of your jewelry and follow all these simple rules, the coating will last long enough . In the future, when it begins to wear off, specialists in almost any jewelry workshop will restore it in just a couple of days.
15.02.21
Methods for professional restoration of gold whiteness
Gold bleaching is a common process in jewelry making.
White gold bleaching at a jeweler
Galvanization: Rhodium treatment by current and electrolysis process
Galvanization in simple words is gilding. If you have heard the term “plated gold”, we are talking about gold-plated products. The galvanization process is used to a greater extent to enhance the positive characteristics of the noble metal. Rhodium galvanization is carried out - the application of a metal that looks like silver using an electric current. How this process happens:
- the bath is filled with rhodium solution;
- a cleaned piece of jewelry is placed into the solution;
- Electric current is passed through electrodes;
- When exposed to electricity, rhodium deposits on the gold item.
Electroplated gold acquires a noble color and shine, becomes durable, heat-resistant, resistant to corrosion and oxidation.
Rhodium plating jewelry
Immersion in rhodium solution as a cheaper method
Rhodium belongs to the platinum group and is much more expensive than noble metals. Rhodium is valued at 10 times higher than gold. Plating is often done by immersing gold jewelry in a rhodium solution, which is cheaper
The rhodium plating service costs from 1,500 thousand rubles and above. Jewelers guarantee the safety of gold jewelry: earrings coated with rhodium will last about 10 years, chains - 6 years, rings - 3 years.
Wear time depends on how often the jewelry is worn and comes into contact with the skin.
What should not be cleaned, according to the recommendations of jewelers
If you decide to clean gold jewelry yourself at home, you need to know that not all substances are suitable for cleaning this metal.
Dangerous ammonia
Ammonia is an indispensable assistant in the arsenal of housewives. It is used to clean absolutely everything: from clothes to gold items. But, according to jewelers, ammonia is also harmful to gold plating.
You cannot clean white and regular gold using the same solution at once. You should also not clean gold and silver together.
Ionization occurs and, in simple terms, the jewelry changes colors with each other. Gold unprotected by other coatings can react with ammonia, causing it to darken. Instead of pure ammonia, it is recommended to use an ammonia solution - a solvent solvent - to clean gold jewelry.
Folk remedies for cleaning white gold using dishwashing detergent
There are many folk remedies that can help clean white gold if it has turned yellow. The most common of these products is dishwashing gel, which every housewife uses. Detergents are used to remove dirt of varying degrees, both separately and together with other substances.
Dishwashing detergent solution
Popular recipes for using dishwashing detergent:
- Pour a teaspoon of washing gel into a glass of water. Pour the solution into a saucepan, having previously covered the bottom with a soft cloth. Place jewelry on a cloth. Boil the contents of the saucepan for 10 minutes.
- Make a solution from a glass of water, a teaspoon of detergent, a teaspoon of ammonia, 40 mg of hydrogen peroxide. White gold should be kept in the resulting solution for 20-25 minutes, depending on the degree of contamination.
- Another type of cleaning solution is made by mixing a glass of warm water, a teaspoon of washing gel, and 2 teaspoons of hyposulfite pharmaceutical product. You need to keep the jewelry in the solution for 20 minutes.
Alloy composition
Precious materials used in the manufacture of jewelry are distinguished by their qualitative characteristics and quantitative composition of ligature components.
Chemically pure gold, corresponding to 24 carats or 999.9 fineness, is yellow in color and soft. Therefore, the jewelry industry uses alloys of precious metals with other chemical elements.
Depending on the additives, the properties of the composition change. When silver is added, the alloy acquires a matte silver color. If nickel is used as an alloy, the material is distinguished by its yellowness, which is hidden in the product under a layer of rhodium. Palladium is used as a ligature in rare cases.
Some countries have abandoned the use of nickel as an alloy component. Metal can cause an allergic reaction. A film of platinum group metal gives the jewelry a snow-white color with a characteristic tint of a noble element and improves wear resistance.
Pure gold can be whitened by the alloy additive of 5% platinum, which gives the material excellent performance characteristics. Products made from an alloy of noble chemical elements do not deform, and the surface is resistant to mechanical damage.
White and yellow gold are hallmarked, so both subtypes of the alloy have the same value in terms of noble metal content.
Section question - answer
Why does white gold turn yellow on my finger?
Expert opinion
Grishanov Mikhail Petrovich
Jeweler, director of the Grishanov and Co. workshop
First, you need to understand that it is not the metal that turns yellow, but the surface of the product. Yellowness is associated with external influences. This can be oxidation as a result of the reaction of the metal with human sweat, chemical elements in creams, perfumes, and hygiene products. Yellowness can be an accumulated coating of dirt, dust, or the result of the interaction of metals in the ligature. Each case is individual.
White gold has turned yellow, what to do at home?
Expert opinion
Andrey Seleznev
Chemist-technologist, Volgograd
We need to figure out what is the reason for the yellowness that appears. Analyze your health status: are your hormonal levels disrupted, are you taking medications. In other cases, try cleaning your jewelry at home using detergents, ammonia, salt or soda. White gold items cannot be rubbed, polished or polished. If the precious metal does not turn white, contact a jeweler.
White gold turned yellow in 2 months, how to restore it?
Expert opinion
Pribrezhny Gennady Valentinovich
Jeweler 6th category
White gold cannot turn yellow in a short period of time. Unless, of course, you are working with the soil without removing the rings. Jewelry stores provide guarantees on gold items for 2-3 years. Therefore, if white gold turns yellow 2 months after purchase, it is definitely a fake, a low-quality alloy and unreliable coating. You cannot remove yellowness on your own. There is only one way out: take the jewelry to a jeweler for re-plating.
Why metal gets dirty, features
White gold is an interesting metal that differs in characteristics from its legal representative, red gold.
Many people are confused by the color of the product. People are accustomed to seeing a yellow and shiny gold product in front of them. It is called white because it combines with other metals that have a white coating. White gold actually contains little of the base metal itself. It is a dilution compared to the others. Typically, the alloy combines gold, palladium, nickel, and platinum, which give the resulting product a white tint. Silver is used less frequently for alloying, as it gives the finished product an unsightly milky, creamy tint. White gold is used in products with precious stones. The reflection of stones and diamonds goes well with the shiny white surface.
Rhodium is also used to create a white tint. It is used to cover a gold item on top using the pollination method. Such jewelry is many times more expensive, since the base is real yellow gold. However, such a product will be short-lived and costly to restore. It will have to be plated with rhodium every few years.
A product made from a mixture of yellow gold and silver, zinc will have more value, but it will not look as aesthetically pleasing and bright as an alloy of nickel, palladium, and platinum. Jewelers call white gold noble. However, the superiority of a product should be determined not by its appearance, but by the quality of the sample.
White gold turns yellow due to friction.
Sometimes the product turns yellow, especially when it is plated with rhodium. This happens for a number of reasons:
- even with careful care, white gold can darken if worn on a regular basis (this occurs due to the reaction of rhodium and human sweat, the metal oxidizes);
- When aggressively cleaning the jewelry, the surface layer is erased;
- if the jewelry is constantly exposed to friction, shock, or mechanical damage.
A common cause of metal contamination is its reaction with the environment. To avoid this, you should properly care for your jewelry.
Jeweler's opinion
Molokanov N.M.
Jeweler, 26 years of experience in jewelry production.
The most common reason for the appearance of yellowness on white gold is poor-quality jewelry. Therefore, you need to purchase precious jewelry in jewelry stores. There is no need to be shy about asking for a certificate for decoration or asking for an examination. In all serious salons there are special devices with which you can determine the composition of the alloy. It is also recommended to buy gold jewelry of the highest standard. They will cost more, but their quality is much higher. There is no need to save on yourself. In addition, jewelry will retain its attractive appearance for a long time if you care for it correctly: - do not get carried away with cleaning with unknown means; act delicately; - regular laundry soap or dishwashing detergent works best; - if the ring or earrings have a precious stone, then rinse with regular running water or soda water. The safest thing to do is to entrust your favorite jewelry to a specialist who will return it to its whiteness using professional methods.
Why does the finger under the wedding ring turn black?
At a time when people believed in omens, seeing a black mark from a ring was considered a very bad sign. Today no one believes in such signs, and the blackness is explained by the simple desire of jewelry stores to give their goods a more attractive appearance. For this purpose, products (especially rings) are rubbed with a special polishing paste.
It is this that remains on the skin over time in the form of dark spots, and there is no talk of gold oxidizing.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to correct the laws of physics: alloying metals oxidize. There are only two ways out of this situation: timely coating of gold with appropriate sputtering or choosing samples of classical alloys with a low content of impurities.
