Gold is an expensive and most popular precious metal. Currently, most of it makes most jewelry. Many might think that the cost and value of gold are exaggerated, but in fact this noble metal has excellent physicochetics, such as durability, reliability, hardness, etc. Before getting to the consumer market in the form of products, the gold passes several Stages of processing. One of the most important is the melting process. It is about him that it will be discussed in this article: we will determine the melting point and possible ways, we also find out if it is possible to do it at home.
When will the alloys melted?
Gold is characterized by persistence, hardware, electrical conductivity, viscosity, low resistance. It is due to these parameters that it was widely used not only in the jewelry industry, but also in medicine, industry, pharmaceuticals.
In its pure form of gold in its natural state, nothing is practically impossible to do.
For To make jewelry, this metal is not only melted, but also mixed with other precious and not very metals, for example, with silver. And mixing gold with another element can be exclusively in the molten state. Therefore, it is pre-melted in special laboratories using a certain inventory and equipment.
Pure Gold Melting Temperature
Pure gold is called precious metal 999 samples, in which there are no impurities, there are no ligatures. The main difference is its softness. Even the banking ingot of pure gold can easily scratch the nail.
The melting point of gold is one of the physicomechanical properties of the metal. This indicator determines the maximum temperature at which the metal begins to melt. The gold of a certain sample is characterized by its melting temperature, but in any case it is high enough:
- 999 Sample begins to melt at T 1064ºС. Boiling point - 2947 ºС;
- 585 Sample can be melted, reaching T 840ºС,
- 375 sample "floats" when heated to 770 ºС.
From the foregoing information it follows that the higher the sample, the higher the temperature and more time you need for melting metal. Each element that is added to the alloy reduces the melting point, with the exception of palladium. This metal, on the contrary, increases this indicator.
As for the place of smelting, it is absolutely all gold, except for 999 samples, you can melt at home using the remedies. The thing is that Such a high temperature, 1064ºС, can be achieved exclusively at factory installations, in special furnaces.
Anyway, experienced jewelers and specialists do not recommend engaging in self-melting of gold - it is more expedient to do this in special laboratories.
How to melt gold at home?
Despite the fact that experts do not recommend to engage in a similar process at home, claim that it is unsafe, because a very high temperature is needed, there are craftsmen and lovers to experiment. To date, there are 3 most effective method of smelting precious metal at home:
- using gas burner;
- in a special furnace for smelting precious metals;
- using microwave.
Let's look at each of them in more detail.
On gas burner
This is the most popular way of smelting precious metal. This is due to the fact that the gas stove is practically everyone. It is also worth noting that the temperature of gas burning is so high that gold melts for counting seconds. So, in order to melt the metal with a gas burner, you will need to purchase the following.
- Crucible - Special container for smelting. Its main characteristic is a resistance to high temperatures. The crucible can be graphite or clay.
- Forceps - With this inventory, you can take hot metal, turn it over, move it. Tongs are made of heat-resistant material.
- Buru or sodium carbonate - These are special compositions that are used to clean the gold. The thing is that before getting to the smelting, gold needs to be cleaned.
In case you have no gas stove with a burner, it does not matter, it can be made at home from the remedies, but in this case the fuel will be gasoline. During the manufacture of a homemade burner, do not do without:
- sprinkler, which is ideally suitable for gardening equipment for spraying chemicals;
- tin cans with hermetic lid;
- air automobile pump or compressor;
- hoses;
- Sealant.
After the burner is made, you can proceed directly to the process:
- Tigel to handle the prepared drone;
- put all gold, scrap, which is planning to melt, in a crucible;
- warm up the burner;
- Next, the process of smelting begins, primarily begin to melt the impurities, and after the precious metal itself;
- As soon as the alloy is completely melted, it needs to be pouring into the selected container, the form of which can be the most different - it depends on what product you want to get;
- At the last stage you need to cool gold with cold water.
The process itself is quite lightweight and does not require much time.
Experts are still recommended to use gasoline burner, since gas equipment can spoil the precious metal.
In a smelting furnace
This is another one of the options to which you can resort to at home using a healthy inventory to melt gold. You need to get:
- crucible;
- forceps;
- flux;
- Special oven.
You can buy a furnace for smelting in a specialized store . It is compact and fairly powerful equipment. Of course, if there is no possibility to buy a stove for smelting gold, it can be made with your own hands. But for this you still need to buy a lot of material, spend time. Therefore, it is still better to find an inexpensive similar product in the online store. The smelting furnace can be electrical or wood.
The process consists of the following steps:
- At the first stage, you need to warm up the furnace by connecting it to the power grid or with the help of wood coal to the desired temperature;
- prepare a crucible to process it with a flux, which is used by the boor;
- In the crucible to put gold and install the container on the furnace.
Metal during the heating of the crucible will start melting. Next, the process occurs in the same way as described in the previous method.
In microwave
To carry out a gold intake event in the microwave, you also need to pre-prepare all the necessary equipment: a crucible, boor, microwave. You will also need to buy a special smelting chamber - a special device that is used to smell gold in the microwave.
It is also worth noting that for this method is not suitable for any microwave oven, but only the one, magnetron in which is located on the back or side wall of the device. In no case is not allowed using the microwave oven, magnetron in which is located on the top panel. The process of melting the precious metal in the microwave consists of the following sequence of actions:
- handle the crucible brown and put metal into it;
- Next, the crucible is installed in a melting chamber;
- The chamber is installed in the microwave and covered with a lid;
- Next, the device connects to the electrical network, is installed with a capacity of 1200 W.
With such a power, in order to melt 3 grams of gold, it will take about 12 to 15 minutes. After the molten metal is overflowing into the form and cooled.
Each of the above methods will come in handy and in order to overpay gilt.
But just need to closely monitor the process, since the gilding is usually alloy of silver, nickel, copper and palladium, and the gold itself in such products is completely small. Therefore, the melting point and time will be less. We want to give a few useful tips that will necessarily use if you decide to melt the precious metal at home.
- Instead of crucible, you can take ordinary raw potatoes. It is necessary to take a vegetable, the size of which will depend on the amount of gold for smelting, and make a deepening in it. It is in it that will be placed metal. Potatoes withstand high temperatures.
- Be sure to clean the gold before we melt it.
- It is desirable to familiarize yourself with the parameters and the physicomechanical properties of the metal.
- The main thing is how much smelting method you choose, do not forget about your own security. This process is quite traumatic, so it is necessary to purchase protective glasses, a mask, apron, gloves. These funds will help protect the body, skin, eyes from possible injuries, burns.
- When choosing a crucible, it is necessary to consider which maximum temperature it can withstand.
- Microwave, if you have already used it as equipment for smelting gold, to apply it is already categorically recommended for domestic purposes.
If you decide to engage in welding gold seriously, for example, steel jeweler, it is best to purchase special equipment and inventory that is intended for this process.
The following video demonstrated the process of melting gold at home.