Q: A consumer is complaining about a platinum ring deforming and scratching. Why is this happening?
A: Platinum must be alloyed with another metal to provide the best high purity alloy. Depending on what type of manufacturing method will be used, some alloys are more favorable than others.
For example, an alloy that is very soft may need to be work-hardened or heat treated to become harder. These alloys are ideal for die striking or hand fabrication, where additional work is being done resulting in a harder piece. However, casting usually requires little work and produced pieces may just need to be cleaned and polished. For this method of manufacturing, these soft alloys are less suitable.
Depending on which alloy was used and which manufacturing, a ring such as the above in question may have been cast from Pt950/Iridium or Pt950/Palladium, which have a hardness of only 80 and 65 Vickers respectively.
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