I have been reading as much as I can and think I'm about ready to put my *knowledge* into practice. Before doing so, I thought it would be a good idea to have my procedure checked by those more knowledgeable than I. Any answers or comments, however small, will be greatly appreciated.
I have recently acquired an amount of jewelery composed of gold (8-22k) and sterling silver. The end product which I wish to achieve is 24k gold bullion. To accomplish this, I plan to use the Inquarting and Parting method. My understanding is that I melt the gold and silver together in a ratio of 1:4 by weight, pour the liquid alloy into cold water, and dissolve the cooled product in 35% nitric acid. After dissolution, the silver (and mostly copper?, please correct if my assumption is wrong, contaminants) should be in solution with the nitric acid while the (presumably pure) gold collects at the bottom of the reacting vessel.
My first question is regarding the purity of the remaining gold. Given the quality of the source materials I am using, will I need to further process (besides rinsing with distilled water) the gold powder or will it be of acceptable purity for marking as 24k bullion?
To recover the inquarted silver, I will stir the nitric acid solution with a length of copper pipe. This will cause a single displacement reaction to occur in which the copper atoms replace the silver atoms causing them to precipitate out of solution. The reaction is finished when the solution turns blue. If the reaction stops before the solution is blue do I need to add heat or more nitric acid?
Something I was unable to find the answer to elsewhere is whether the copper will replace elements other than the dissolved silver. I am under the impression that the silver, once precipitated, will be of greater purity than the 92.5% at which it started, but this seems too good to be true.
When calculating the weight of the gold used in inquarting, I take the weight of the piece (10g 8k necklace) and multiply it by the percentage ofgold content (ite; 33%). When calculating the appropriate amount of silver to use (4x that of the gold), do I use the measured weight of the sterling pieces or 92.5% (%silver content) of their measured weight?
Lastly, am I wrong to assume that due to the nature of my source material I will be completely free from the great undesirables I've read about such as tin and lead?
Ty in advance.
Edit: PGM's would only be found in white gold, not uncolored gold alloys or silver, correct?
I have recently acquired an amount of jewelery composed of gold (8-22k) and sterling silver. The end product which I wish to achieve is 24k gold bullion. To accomplish this, I plan to use the Inquarting and Parting method. My understanding is that I melt the gold and silver together in a ratio of 1:4 by weight, pour the liquid alloy into cold water, and dissolve the cooled product in 35% nitric acid. After dissolution, the silver (and mostly copper?, please correct if my assumption is wrong, contaminants) should be in solution with the nitric acid while the (presumably pure) gold collects at the bottom of the reacting vessel.
My first question is regarding the purity of the remaining gold. Given the quality of the source materials I am using, will I need to further process (besides rinsing with distilled water) the gold powder or will it be of acceptable purity for marking as 24k bullion?
To recover the inquarted silver, I will stir the nitric acid solution with a length of copper pipe. This will cause a single displacement reaction to occur in which the copper atoms replace the silver atoms causing them to precipitate out of solution. The reaction is finished when the solution turns blue. If the reaction stops before the solution is blue do I need to add heat or more nitric acid?
Something I was unable to find the answer to elsewhere is whether the copper will replace elements other than the dissolved silver. I am under the impression that the silver, once precipitated, will be of greater purity than the 92.5% at which it started, but this seems too good to be true.
When calculating the weight of the gold used in inquarting, I take the weight of the piece (10g 8k necklace) and multiply it by the percentage ofgold content (ite; 33%). When calculating the appropriate amount of silver to use (4x that of the gold), do I use the measured weight of the sterling pieces or 92.5% (%silver content) of their measured weight?
Lastly, am I wrong to assume that due to the nature of my source material I will be completely free from the great undesirables I've read about such as tin and lead?
Ty in advance.
Edit: PGM's would only be found in white gold, not uncolored gold alloys or silver, correct?
.
