How the Jewelry Lab XRF Analyzer is Changing the Jewelry Business

From the time of the first goldsmiths and until now, jewelry made of precious metals has always been a symbol of high status and luxury. At all times precious metals and gems have been treated with great reverence and respect, and it is not surprising that quality control and detection of fakes has always been one of the main problems in jewelry.

Throughout history people have thought of various methods to control the quality of jewelry. According to legend, back in antiquity Archimedes exposed a royal jeweler who, to make a crown, used an alloy of gold and silver instead of pure gold. Archimedes measured the density of the piece and compared it to that of gold. However, this method is not universal and cannot be used to distinguish between a gold-coated tungsten ingot and pure gold, because the density of tungsten is very close to that of gold. In today’s world, there are more reliable methods available to us for analyzing precious metals. 

Determining precious metal assay can be done in a variety of ways. One of them is touchstone testing. This method allows you to approximate the grade, but does not provide high accuracy, and requires the use of consumables that contain toxic substances such as nitric acid. In addition, determining the sample this way violates the integrity of the product.

A simpler method used in today’s jewelry business is the droplet method of sampling precious metals, in which the gold sample is determined by the reaction of a drop of reagent applied to its surface. The only advantage of this method is its speed, but the assay is determined by the color of the spot left by the reagent, and the correctness of the analysis depends entirely on the subjective perception of color by the expert.

The X-ray fluorescence analysis method takes a special place in the field of precious metals analysis. This method is based on the analysis of the characteristic fluorescence spectrum of X-rays, which is unique to each element in the Mendeleev Table. Unlike other methods based on reactions of individual elements with reagents, XRF analysis allows for simultaneous analysis of all alloy components. Although this method has been available on the market for a relatively short time, it has already gained popularity due to its high accuracy and reliability. 

Modern XRF analyzers are capable of providing information on the elemental composition of a sample with an accuracy of about 0.1% within seconds. XRF spectrometers are able to analyze all precious metals: gold (Au), silver (Ag), platinum (Pt), and platinum group metals (PGM): palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), ruthenium (Ru), osmium (Os) and iridium (Ir), allowing a quick and reliable analysis of the concentration of precious metals and impurities in alloys. This method can also determine the presence of coatings, and even their thickness. Thus XRF analysis is the ideal solution for precious metals. 

Let’s take a look at the Jewelry Lab analyzer, which is used to analyze precious metals and offers a number of features that can greatly simplify a jeweler’s work and provide quick, complete information about the piece. This analyzer is equipped with a built-in computer and a battery that allows it to work autonomously. Equipped with a built-in CCD camera and collimator changer, the analysis area can be precisely controlled, allowing for easy analysis of heterogeneous samples. In addition, a built-in scale and printer allows you to produce an analytical certificate with information about composition, mass, and even the value of the product, based on precious metal exchange prices. All these features, combined with a compact instrument case, intuitive interface and ergonomic design, make Jewelry Lab an indispensable tool for any jewelry shop.

Nowadays, the XRF technique surpasses all other non-destructive methods of analysis in terms of accuracy, speed and simplicity. XRF analysis in general and Jewelry Lab XRF analyzer in particular is completely changing the approach to the analysis of precious metals, making reliable analysis of precious alloys simple and accessible.