Pyrometallurgy: Roasting, Smelting, Refining & Electrowinning

Pyrometallurgy: Roasting, Smelting, Refining & Electrowinning

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Golden coloured alloy question (2 replies and 1 comment)

S
Doeba0ermo
2 years ago
Doeba0ermo 2 years ago

Hello everyone!

I was working on a side project and while working on it, I found I needed to think of a strong gold coloured alloy that isn't too dense but still quite durable. I am in no way a metallurgist, so I'm sorry if I use wrong terms or misunderstand some things.

Now, as mentioned previously, the alloy I'm attempting to "create" needs to be a reflective golden colour, not too dense, and durable enough (I read somewhere about the Moh's scale, I'm not sure if that applies here, but I'm trying to achieve something that is at least lands at a 6 or a 7.)

A composition I've thought of so far through looking at various sources is as follows:
30% gold
40% chromium
20% titanium
20% copper

Would this alloy be possible theoretically? And if so, would it meet what I'm looking for like the colour and hardness? 

Thank you in advance for reading!

Mike
2 years ago
Mike 2 years ago
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Moh's scale refers to the hardness of a mineral.  A level of 6-7 is actually quite hard (think steel), but does not mean it is very dense (density relates to mass).  Take gold, it is very dense ( 19.3 gm/cc) but has a Moh's scale of 2.5, quartz has a moh's scale of 7, and a density of 2.65 gm/cc.  Also note that hardness does not relate to strength, quartz is hard but also brittle.

As to your last part, alloys of gold and copper are easy to make, adding in chromium is possible, but at a 40% range might be difficult, the same for the titanium.

S
Doeba0ermo
2 years ago

Ah okay, so theoretically, if I were to change it to something like 25% gold, 20% iron, 30% nickel and 25% copper, would that work better? And do you know if this would have the desired gold colour?

As context, this is for a fictional book rooted in reality so I do want to keep it realistic in regards to the physics, so obtaining the metals don't have to be considered in this.

Mike
2 years ago
Mike 2 years ago
Like

There are several metallic alloys that have a golden color some contain no gold (see pinchbeck), the main issue being what physical properties are you interested in as this makes a big difference.

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