Silver jewelry is a variety of decorations made of silver. Silver is one of the precious metals, silver-white, silverware using various processing technology, processed into a wide variety of silverware. Usually divided into earrings, neckless, bracelet, foot ware several categories.
1. Introduction to silver jewelry
A. Silver is one of the precious metals, the symbol of which is silver. Silver is silvery-white with a relative density of 10.49 and a melting point of 961 ℃. It is insoluble in alkali and most organic acids but easily soluble in nitric acid and hot sulfuric acid. When combined with sulfur dioxide in the air, it turns brown Ag2S. 925 silver is 92.5% silver. Adding 7.5% copper and other alloys can improve the hardness and luster of silver.
B. The fineness of silver is expressed in thousands. Pure silver: the silver content is not less than 990 ‰, and the imprint is Pure silver or S990, silver 990.
C. The content of silver in the earth’s crust is very small, only 0.07ppm. There is natural silver in nature, but it is mainly in the state of the compound. Content of elements in the sun: (PPM) 0.001 content of elements in seawater: (PPM) 0.000000 1 on the surface of the Pacific Ocean
D. The main silver minerals are argentite, followed by hornblende, and natural silver. Silver is obtained by heating silver ore with salt and water, combining it with mercury to form an amalgam and evaporating mercury. Or it is prepared by leaching silver ore with cyaniding alkali, adding lead or zinc to precipitate silver.
925 silver: the silver content is not less than 925 ‰, and the imprint is S925 or silver 925. Difference: 925 silver is the international standard for silver jewelry. Its enhanced hardness is mainly used for making fashionable silver jewelry with a complicated process. However, Sterling silver is relatively soft and is not suitable for inlaying gems or delicate styles. It is generally used for making traditional children’s bracelets and older people’s bracelets.
2. Processing technology
Engraving technology
It is an ancient technique of gold and silver processing common in China. Hammer the gold and silver thinly, and then use the chisel to engrave the relief effect or the rich ornamentation on the chisel.
Melting method
This technique is more common in Europe, only used for silver production. There is some droplet effect of jewelry. Silver production is far better than gold, very charming.
Japanese wood grain metal
The primary material is also silver; the manufacturing techniques are exciting, artistic and decorative effects are powerful. The method is to weld pure silver and copper-silver alloy, nickel silver alloy, copper, brass, red copper (sometimes with a small amount of gold) in layers, knead and flatten the metal surface. Different color textures effects will appear.
Black silver inlay technology It is an alloy decoration technology for silver. This technique is widely used in the Middle East, Russia, and Thailand. Black silver jewelry is based on a Carved Silver design and then filled with pure black copper silver lead alloy in the pattern. After polishing, the pattern of silver is exposed. The black-and-white contrast is strong, showing twelve points of dignity.
3. Classification by process
It can be divided into primary silver (handmade silver) and Thai silver. It can be divided into inlaid gems and noninlaid plain silver. Silver has the same luster as platinum, and silver is isolated from the air. As long as the coating is not damaged, silver ornaments will not be oxidized for a longer time. It is the mainstream silver ornament technology now.
Primary silver: Silver itself does not go through any processing. Through the semi-manual or complete manual process, the silver has a simple and natural style.
Thai Silver: Retro Style Silver, through artificial vulcanization, make silver oxidation, this kind of silver style more personality, highlight the silver style.
4. Jewelry exists and changes for people
In the late 1990s and into the 21st century, China has been close to the developed countries globally, and people’s consumption concept and pursuit of beauty have also changed with the more significant improvement of living standards. It is an era of personality publicity. People have to show their unique personality and taste in their dressing. They have to offer their different mood by changing their dressing every day. It is no longer the demand of modern people to wear valuable jewelry to show their wealth and status.
5. Imitations
A. Silver plated jewelry
The matrix of silver plated jewelry is a kind of alloy material with copper as the main metal. Zinc, nickel, and other metals are often added, and the surface is plated with silver to improve the luster. The advantage of this material is that its corrosion resistance is better than that of copper. Its technological property is similar to that of gold.
B. “Sandwich” silver jewelry
“Sandwich” silver jewelry is a new type of imitation silver jewelry detected by the testing center in July 2002. The surface of the imitation is silver, while the interior is the sandwich of the harmful element “cadmium.” The most significant feature of cadmium is that it has a great potential safety hazard, which will cause permanent injury to the human nervous system.
6. Why does silver turn black?
1. Because everyone’s endocrine and physical condition is different. Some people’s sweat contains more acid; some people’s sweat contains less, and some peoples’ body fluid has higher sulfur content. They are the substances that lead to the surface of silver blackening. So everyone will have different results when wearing silver jewelry. Some people will be as bright as new after wearing it for half a year. 2. Sulfur, nitric acid, and oxides in the air, and other substances have a particularly corrosive effect on silver. Silver jewelry is worn for a long time. The combination of sulfur and silver will form a black silver sulfide film on the surface of silver jewelry. It appears as some tiny spots and then spreads into pieces, forming what people usually call silver stains. Become black.
