Palladium silver alloy

Jewelry Discussion
1

i want to start a new line of jewellery using palladium
silver…but not sure what is the composition used. can anyone
please tell me?

rgds,
ann lee tay

2

Hi anne,

Well,in the market nowadays…its like you name it they have it.The
common mixture are 1% palladium, 3.5% palladium, 5% and so on but if
platinum is also added on,it will look better(in the eyes of
consumers because PT cost more than three times of PD)

Rdgs
stepfan

3

Hello,

I am new to jewelry, but I can say that I’ve read papers on dental
alloys and some older patents discussing the tarnish resistance of
palladium silver alloys. Generally from what I have seen, the silver
doesn’t really become tarnsih resistant until you have at least 40%
palladium. Of course, that would be related to the definition of
tarnish resistant, such as what concentration of liver of sulfur or
other reagant is used to provide the data. Although on many levels it
doesn’t make sense to add ruthenium to silver because the eutectic is
at only about 3.7% Ru, I have noticed a difference in tarnish
resistance with ruthenium in silver. Palladium is really going up in
price right now. Anyone else have any experiences adulterating
silver?

Thanks.
Seech.

4

I have played around with most alloys concerning silver Platinum,
palladiun, nickel and the like. Bottom line is this, There is NO
silver alloy that will not tarnish over time. Full stop. And I would
LOVE to be proved wrong…

Cheers Hans

5

Any addition of 3.5% - 10% of palladium to silver have good
resistant in oxidation in silver.

Can anyone tell me how long can the resistant last? in a humid & non
humid climate?

I was thinking of doing a line of Palladium Silver jewellery with a
1-2 year guarantee non oxidation within these period, do you think
its a good idea?

Ann

6

Thank you Stepfan & Seech for sharing.

If the formula of 927% silver, 5% PD & 2.3% alloy being used for
jewellery… can the marking of PDSS be used?

And norm PDAG is 60%PD 40%Silver. what if 10%PD 75%silver 15%alloy
can the marking PD10AG be used?

7

I came to understand from Stepfan that if anything more than 5%
palladium added to silver, it will gives the silver a more greyish
look. Can I plate with a layer of palladium then with rodium or 18K
white so it wont have that greyish look?

8 
There is NO silver alloy that will not tarnish over time. Full
stop. And I would LOVE to be proved wrong.....

I guess, all depends what “over time” means. Faberge was using alloy
of 25% platinum, 2% gold, and the rest was silver. For all practical
purposes it was as good as while gold. if cleaned once a year, it
retained finish for the life of the owner.

Leonid Surpin

9

Normal procedure…plate with pure silver follow by palladium and
finally rhodium

10

Hi Anne,

can the marking PD10AG be used?

This is only trade mark reference…you can imprint any thing you
want as long as you can explain the content

Rdgs
stepfan

11 
If the formula of 927% silver, 5% PD & 2.3% alloy being used for
jewellery... can the marking of PDSS be used? And norm PDAG is
60%PD 40%Silver. what if 10%PD 75%silver 15%alloy can the marking
PD10AG be used?

Not in the US, neither marking is in the FTC guidelines.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

12 
I was thinking of doing a line of Palladium Silver jewellery with
a 1-2 year guarantee non oxidation within these period, do you
think its a good idea?

Don’t do it, all sterling (925) alloys will oxidize (tarnish). Until
you add a significant amount of alloying elements (40% or so) all
silver alloys tarnish.

Jim

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

13

Yes…and bravo technology…i have been working on Platinum silver
for years and tarnish is not an issue if you “keep your products
clean”

stepfan

14 
Not in the US, neither marking is in the FTC guidelines.

I am sure our friend anne is not talking about USA market… moreover
there are many new alloys in states that have no guidelines at
all… name you some i.e…pink silver which have 33% silver
only.There is one alloy which bond four precious metal in it (Gold +
platinum + palladium + silver) and there are AU+PT, AU+Pd, AG+PT+PD
and so on…

stepfan

15

I was thinking of doing a line of Palladium Silver jewellery with a
1-2 year guarantee non oxidation within these period, do you think
its a good idea?

Don't do it, all sterling (925) alloys will oxidize (tarnish).
Until you add a significant amount of alloying elements (40% or so)
all silver alloys tarnish.

I’ll second Jim’s statement by suggesting an analogy. 10 karat gold
alloys will tarnish over time in many instances. These are 41+
percent gold, and the remainder is alloy. Even if that alloy is fine
silver only (585 silver, 415 gold), it will tarnish. I know, I’ve
used exactly that alloy for some things. It tarnishes slower than
sterling of course, but it tarnishes. Palladium does not offer
greater protection against tarnishing than does gold, though it’s
lighter SG means the volume of palladium in a 415 pd silver alloy
would be greater, so perhaps it would be better than that same alloy
with 415 gold. But it will still tarnish, given time and the right
conditions.

Peter Rowe

16 
I am sure our friend anne is not talking about USA market..
moreover there are many new alloys in states that have no
guidelines at all.... name you some i.e...pink silver which have
33% silver only.There is one alloy which bond four precious metal
in it (Gold + platinum + palladium + silver) and there are AU+PT,
AU+Pd, AG+PT+PD and so on....

Oh there is no problem making alloys with ratios of precious metals
that are not covered by the FTC guides. The problem comes when you
try to sell them to the consumer and if they do not conform to the
guides then using the words gold, silver, platinum or palladium can
get you in trouble because they have specific a legal meaning in the
US when used to describe the metal used to make a piece of jewelry.
For example there has been an ongoing fight about the 585 platinum
alloys for several years now, there is currently no way to market
them in the US and be in compliance with the FTC guides. The guides
are terribly out of date in regards to many new alloys and processes
but the FTC is a government agency and moves with glacial speed
unless enough political pressure (read as lobbying $) is brought to
bear on them.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

17

You are right when you are refering to USA market and then again our
friend is not selling in US…Moverover this PT 585 issue…well
to exact…a thailand listed jewelry manfacturing company did produce
some for USA back in 1996 and i did not hear any trouble back then,
did you?

srepfan

18 
You are right when you are refering to USA market and then again
our friend is not selling in US.....

You must have knowledge of the posters location not given by the OP
in the email

Moverover this PT 585 issue....well to exact...a thailand listed
jewelry manfacturing company did produce some for USA back in 1996
and i did not hear any trouble back then, did you?

Yes there are a couple of companies who have tried to sell it but
there are problems as it does not meet FTC guidelines. It is in
legal limbo the last I heard, there have been petitions for and
against presented to the FTC. AFAIK they have not yet ruled on it but
I haven’t followed it that closely.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts