Temperature and methods of melting gold

Gold is the most expensive and most popular precious metal. Currently, it is from it that most jewelry is made. Many may think that the cost and significance of gold is exaggerated, but in fact, this noble metal has excellent physical and technical parameters, such as strength, reliability, hardness, etc. stages of processing. One of the most important is the melting process. It is about him that will be discussed in this article: we will determine the melting point and possible methods, and we will also find out if it is possible to do this at home.

Gold is characterized by durability, ductility, electrical conductivity, toughness, and low resistance. It is thanks to these parameters that it has found wide application not only in the jewelry industry, but also in medicine, industry, and pharmaceuticals.

For to make jewelry, this metal is not only melted, but also mixed with other precious and not so precious metals, for example, with silver. And you can mix gold with another element only in a molten state. Therefore, it is preliminarily melted in special laboratories using certain inventory and equipment.

Pure gold is called a precious metal of 999 standard, in which there are no impurities, there are no ligatures at all. Its main difference is its softness. Even a solid gold bank bar can be easily scratched with a fingernail.

The melting point of gold is one of the physical and mechanical properties of a metal. This indicator determines the maximum temperature at which the metal begins to melt. Gold of a certain sample is characterized by its melting temperature, but in any case it is quite high:

• 999 sample begins to melt at t 1064ºС. Boiling point - 2947 ºС;
• 585 sample can be melted, reaching t 840 ° С,
• 375 sample "floats" when heated to 770 ºС.

From the above information it follows that the higher the sample, the higher the temperature and the longer it takes to melt the metal. Every element that is added to the alloy lowers the melting point, with the exception of palladium. This metal, on the contrary, increases this indicator.

As for the place of melting, absolutely all gold, except for 999 assay value, can be melted at home using available means. The thing is that such a high temperature, 1064 ° C, can only be achieved in factory installations, in special ovens.

Despite the fact that experts do not recommend doing such a process at home, they argue that it is unsafe, because a very high temperature is required, there are craftsmen and lovers of experimenting. Today, there are 3 most effective methods for melting precious metal at home:

• using a gas burner;
• in a special furnace for melting precious metals;
• using a microwave.

Let's take a closer look at each of them.

This is the most popular way to melt precious metal. This is due to the fact that almost everyone has a gas stove. It is also worth noting that the combustion temperature of the gas is so high that gold melts in a matter of seconds. So, in order to melt metal with a gas burner, you will need to purchase the following.

• Crucible - a special container for melting. Its main characteristic is resistance to high temperatures. The crucible can be graphite or clay.
• Forceps - with the help of this inventory you can take hot metal, turn it over, move it. The tongs are made of heat-resistant material.
• Borax or sodium carbonate Are special compounds that are used to clean gold. The thing is that gold needs to be cleaned before starting to smelt.

If you don't have a gas stove with a burner, it doesn't matter, it can be made at home from improvised means, but in this case, the fuel will be gasoline. During the manufacture of a homemade burner, you can not do without:

• a sprinkler, which is ideal for gardening equipment for spraying chemicals;
• a tin can with a sealed lid;
• an automobile air pump or compressor;
• hoses;
• sealant.

After the burner is made, you can proceed directly to the process:

• treat the crucible with prepared borax;
• put all the gold, scrap that you plan to melt into the crucible;
• preheat the burner;
• then the smelting process itself begins, first of all, impurities begin to melt, and only after that the precious metal itself;
• as soon as the alloy is completely melted, it must be poured into the selected container, the shape of which can be very different - it depends on what kind of product you want to get;
• the last step is to cool the gold with cold water.

The process itself is quite easy and does not take much time.

This is another option that you can use to melt gold at home using the improvised inventory. You need to get:

• crucible;
• forceps;
• flux;
• a special stove.

You can purchase a melting furnace in a specialized store.... This is compact and powerful enough equipment. Of course, if it is not possible to buy a gold melting stove, you can make it yourself. But for this you still need to buy a lot of material, waste time. Therefore, it is still better to find an inexpensive similar product in an online store. The melting furnace can be electric or wood-fired.

The process consists of the following steps:

• at the first stage, you need to warm up the stove by connecting it to the mains or using charcoal to the desired temperature;
• prepare a crucible, treat it with a flux, which is used as a borax;
• place the gold in the crucible and place the container on the furnace.

The metal will begin to melt during the heating of the crucible. Further, the process proceeds in the same way as described in the previous method.

To carry out an event for melting gold in a microwave, you also need to first prepare all the necessary equipment: a crucible, a borax, a microwave oven. You will also need to buy a special melting chamber - a special device that is used to melt gold in the microwave.

It is also worth noting that not any microwave oven is suitable for this method, but only one in which the magnetron is located on the back or side wall of the device. In no case is it allowed to use a microwave oven, in which the magnetron is located on the top panel. The process of melting precious metal in the microwave consists of the following sequence of actions:

• treat the crucible with brown and put metal in it;
• then the crucible is installed in the melting chamber;
• the camera is installed in a microwave oven and covered with a lid;
• then the device is connected to the electrical network, installed with a power of 1200 watts.

But you just need to carefully monitor the process, since gilding is usually an alloy of silver, nickel, copper and palladium, and there is very little gold in such products. Therefore, both the melting point and the time will be shorter. We want to give you some useful tips that will definitely come in handy if you decide to melt the precious metal at home.

1. Instead of a crucible, you can take regular 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 depression in it. It is in it that the metal will be placed. Potatoes can withstand high temperatures.
2. Be sure to clean the gold before melting it.
3. It is advisable to familiarize yourself in detail with the parameters and physical and mechanical properties of the metal.
4. The main thing is that whichever method of melting you choose, do not forget about your own safety. This process is quite traumatic, so it is imperative to purchase goggles, a mask, an apron, and gloves. These funds will help protect the body, skin, eyes from possible injuries, burns.
5. When choosing a crucible, it is imperative to take into account what maximum temperature it can withstand.
6. A microwave oven, if you have already used it as equipment for melting gold, is strongly discouraged for household purposes.

If you decide to seriously engage in gold smelting, for example, steel as a jeweler, it is best to purchase special equipment and tools that are designed specifically for this process.

The following video demonstrates the process of melting gold at home.