Wedding rings from Osmium.....more attractive than silver, more expensive than gold and more exclusive than platinum.
Jonathan Bradshaw
I am soon to get married and have been considering what metal to get our
wedding rings made from. There's no problem at all getting a jeweller to
make a ring from Gold, Platimum, White Gold, Yellow Gold, Rose Gold or any
combination of them all.
Ever since chemistry at high school, I've always had the metal Osmium on my
mind as a very dense metal (the densest), very inert (like gold, platinium
etc). very rare ( cost 3 times of gold) with a silvery blue colour.
All of these properties would make it appear to be just the right thing to
get a attractive and unique wedding ring made from. I've approached one or
two fairly specialist jewelers to see if they would be interested in making
me a ring from Osmium (at a price) with no success. Could anyone help
answer the following:
1) Does Osmium have such a high melting point that it is impossible to
craft?
2) Is Osmium really silvery blue or does it make a very unattractive metal
to look at?
3) Is it possible to purchase Osmium in a pure enough form to make jeweller
from?
4) Would an Osmium ring really last a lifetime?
5) Have you ever hear of any jewellery made from Osmium before?
6) If so, where do I go?
Much appreciate any comments or guidance on this.
Surely there has to be an opening to make lots of cash here. Just think of
the marketing campaign directed at the right people ...."Osmium.... more
attractive than silver, more expensive than gold, more exclusive than
Platinum......."
Regards,
Jonathan Bradshaw
peter...@aol.com
In article <01bc0bd5$949eb5a0$0100007f@tofty>, "Jonathan Bradshaw"
<jbr...@tofty.demon.co.uk> writes:
>
>1) Does Osmium have such a high melting point that it is impossible to
>craft?
>
Yes. The highest melting of the platinum group, It melts at 5550 F,
(3066 C). Compare that to Platinum at 3224 F. It also has a mohs
hardness of 7 (harder than most steel tools we work with) , which suggests
that's it's probably far to hard to work with any degree of success.
While I'm sure that it's theoretically possible to melt the stuff, this
temperature is way, way outside the range of any tools and materials
normally used by jewelers. It's even higher than titanium, niobium, or
tantalum melting points.
The main use I'm aware of for osmium is as an electroplated surfacing for
electrical contacts, where it adds great longevity...
Peter Rowe
>
>4) Would an Osmium ring really last a lifetime?
>
Not sure of this one, but given the hardness, I'd rather expect it to be
somewhat brittle rather than ductile and/or malleable. That would suggest
that though you wouldn't easily scratch up your ring, dropping it might
break it. Just a guess.
>5) Have you ever hear of any jewellery made from Osmium before?
Nope.
Peter Rowe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter W. Rowe M.F.A., G.G.
Commercial and custom jeweler and metalsmith
Graduate Gemologist and Lapidary
Opinions expressed here are solely my own....... and subject to change
according to my mood, my blood sugar, the state of my art, and the
opinions of my cats.....
_....._
Free advice and friendship... ( oo ) ( Are we having fun
yet? )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ww~~*~~ww~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark Thornton
Dear Jonathan,
The following extract from the Non-Ferrous Metals Database of the
CAMBRIDGE MATERIALS SELECTOR (CMS) [see http:\\www.granta.co.uk] may
be of relevance to your idea for Osmium wedding rings:
Name Osmium, commercial purity, hard
Identifier MOSCP__002
Short Name Os: >99%, hard
Designation Osmium Metal, commercially pure
Composition >99%Os
Warning
Osmium metal does not normally cause problems as it is
relatively unreactive but all osmium compounds should be
regarded as highly toxic. Osmium oxide, OsO4, is highly
toxic and can cause lung congestion, skin damage, and
severe eye damage.
Notes
Osmium is shiny, bluish white, extremely hard, and brittle
even at high temperatures. It smells, due to the formation
of the toxic and volatile oxide, OsO4. Its name is derived
from the Greek "osme" = "smell".
So use it at your peril!
If you really want an unusual alternative to gold,
then you could try rhodium, which is pretty safe and has much the same
properties as gold - according to Metal Bulletin's "Prices & Data 1996",
it halved in price during 1995, and was sold by Johnson Matthey at 260
USD per
troy ounce on Dec 28th 1995. On the same day, gold was trading at
386-387 USD
per try oz. on the London Metal Markets.
I am also getting married soon, but my fiancee and I plan to stick to
traditional
gold wedding rings!
All the best for a happy marriage!
Mark
--
Mark Thornton Tel: +44 1223 332760
Cambridge University Eng. Dept. Fax: +44 1223 332662
Trumpington Street E-mail: mh...@eng.cam.ac.uk
CAMBRIDGE CB2 1PZ, UK http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~mht11/
Mikko Åström
Osmium oxide which is formed even in room temperature, smells like garlic,
and it really is toxic. It reacts with fats forming black compounds (Your
finger will be black). I have read about almost all exotic metals for the
same reason than you, (for example indium), but almost all of them seems to
be toxic like nickel.
If you want to use some rare materials, think about some very rare
gemstones instead of diamond (alexandrite, demantoid, coloured diamond).
Mikko Åström, FGA
Tim Worstall
would disappear over time , although probably after it killed you, and
it's also not that expensive ( $ 550 /troy ounce was the last price I
saw.)
Why not look at other pgms ? Ruthenium ? Mark Thornton's comments about
rhodium are apt as it is often used as a coating on the pin of earings
for pierced ears for the " hypoallergenic ".
Why not try an old Russian idea ? intertwined rings of red gold, white
gold , yellow gold and green gold ( ie with palladium added.)or a
combination of any three .
Yours Tim Worstall
Andrew Morrison
I'm not sure from your message whether you have any intention of
fabricating an Osmium ring yourself. Please be advised that the vapours
are highly toxic, although I presume that such a noble metal is not toxic
to the touch. The siser metal, Iridium is disappointingly brittle, so I
wouldn't expect much from Osmium.
In article <5clpq1$14...@magma.Mines.EDU>, mjoh...@moran.Mines.EDU (Mike) wrote:
> Jonathan Bradshaw wrote:
>
> : 1) Does Osmium have such a high melting point that it is impossible to
> : craft?
>
> Melting point is about 3045C. Gold is 1063C. Pt is 1769C.
> Tungsten is 3387C (Highest of the metals) and they can work with it so I
> don't think melting point is too big of a concern.
>
> : 2) Is Osmium really silvery blue or does it make a very unattractive metal
> : to look at?
>
> Don't know, never actually seen any. The stuff is pretty pricy!
>
> : 3) Is it possible to purchase Osmium in a pure enough form to make jeweller
> : from?
>
> I see 99.8% and 99.995% in a catalog. The question is, why do you want it
> pure? I imagine contamination by nonmetals would be a concern w/regard to
> workability. Alloys would be the way to go. Your platinum wedding band
> certainly isn't 5-9's Pt.
>
> : 4) Would an Osmium ring really last a lifetime?
>
> You would have to take into account the quality of the care for your ring,
> and your life. As long as the ring wouldn't fracture, it should last quite
> a while. Nothing is completely indestructable. It (Osmium) appears to be
> pretty intolerant of careless manufacture and alloy hygeine.
>
> : 5) Have you ever hear of any jewellery made from Osmium before?
>
> Nope, but they do add other exotic Pt group metals to the platinum alloy
> for jewelery. I seem to recall Iridium.
>
> : 6) If so, where do I go?
>
> I'm not sure, but bring your Visa card... (or two).
>
> So you want something exclusive. Your noble metals are platinum, rhodium,
> ruthenium, osmium, palladium, iridium, gold, and silver. Other metals that
> have neat properties are tantalum, niobium, halfnium, and zirconium (often
> used in nuclear reactors -- be the first on your block with a wedding ring
> from a Russian missile submarine!).
>
> I'll assume that Pt, Au, and Ag are too mundane for your project.
>
> Halfnium: density of 13.09, mp=2222C, "strong, ductile, brilliant silver
> color, extremely corrosion resistant", about US$4.00/g in lump form for
> 99.9% purity, 1mm wire (99.97%) is about $1/cm.
>
> Zirconium: density=6.5, mp=1852C, "hard, lustrous, greyish-white, very
> corrosion resistant", $2.00/g for 99.2% lump, 1mm wire (99.5%) is about
> $0.10/cm.
>
> Niobium: density=8.57, mp=2468C, "strong, bluish-white, quite corrosion
> resistant", $0.40/g for 99.8% lump, 1mm wire (99.8%) is about $0.25/cm.
>
> Tantalum: density=16.6, mp=2996C, "gray, very hard, malleable, ductile,
> very corrosion resistant, completely inert w/respect to the human body",
> $1.50/g for 99.95% lump, 1mm wire (99.95%) is about $0.18/cm.
>
> Iridium: density=22.65, mp=2454C, "yellowish-white, very hard, brittle,
> most corrosion resistant metal known", 1mm wire (99.8%) is $67.00/cm.
>
> Ruthenium: density=12.45, mp=2500C, "hard, lustrous white", wire or lump
> not availiable, about $20/gm for -20 mesh powder.
>
> Rhodium: density=12.41, mp=1966C, "silvery-white, very reflective,
> durable, very corrosion resistant", $700/g for 99.5% pellet, 1mm wire
> (99.8) is about $55/cm.
>
> I'd have to say that your best bet would be a rhodium or iridium ring.
> Those metals have better workability than osmium and cost much more (Os is
> about $150/g for powder, no wire sold). Iridium is also just a bit more
> dense than osmium (22.65 vs 22.61).
>
> Of course, the most impressive (though very unhealthy, illegal, and
> hopefully unattainiable by the public-at-large) ring material would be
> Plutonium. It is pyrophoric though, so you could simulate the immediate
> feelings of a Pu ring with potassium. Pu has a quite high density and is
> very exclusive indeed! I'll soon be working with it for my graduate
> research, but I doubt they would let me take some home to play with.
>
> Good luck on the jewelry,
>
> Mike Johnson - CSM Dept of Metallurgical and Materials Eng - Golden CO
> ---with 10kg of pure Niobium in my desk drawer.
>
>
>
>
> : Regards,
>
>
> : Jonathan Bradshaw
>
> : jbr...@tofty.demon.co.uk
Mike
Naomi Pearson
On 27 Jan 1997 06:13:01 GMT, peter...@aol.com wrote:
>In article <01bc0bd5$949eb5a0$0100007f@tofty>, "Jonathan Bradshaw"
><jbr...@tofty.demon.co.uk> writes:
>
>>
>>1) Does Osmium have such a high melting point that it is impossible to
>>craft?
>>
>
>
>Yes. The highest melting of the platinum group, It melts at 5550 F,
>(3066 C). Compare that to Platinum at 3224 F. It also has a mohs
>hardness of 7 (harder than most steel tools we work with) , which suggests
>that's it's probably far to hard to work with any degree of success.
>While I'm sure that it's theoretically possible to melt the stuff, this
>temperature is way, way outside the range of any tools and materials
>normally used by jewelers. It's even higher than titanium, niobium, or
>tantalum melting points.
>
>The main use I'm aware of for osmium is as an electroplated surfacing for
>electrical contacts, where it adds great longevity...
>
>Peter Rowe
>
>
>
>>
>>4) Would an Osmium ring really last a lifetime?
>>
>Not sure of this one, but given the hardness, I'd rather expect it to be
>somewhat brittle rather than ductile and/or malleable. That would suggest
>that though you wouldn't easily scratch up your ring, dropping it might
>break it. Just a guess.
>
>
>>5) Have you ever hear of any jewellery made from Osmium before?
>
>Nope.
>
>
>
>Peter Rowe
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Peter W. Rowe M.F.A., G.G.
> Commercial and custom jeweler and metalsmith
> Graduate Gemologist and Lapidary
>
>Opinions expressed here are solely my own....... and subject to change
>according to my mood, my blood sugar, the state of my art, and the
>opinions of my cats.....
> _....._
> Free advice and friendship... ( oo ) ( Are we having fun
>yet? )
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ww~~*~~ww~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
Missed the original posting, but saw the response and have an
additional comment regarding osmium. Heating it in air produces a
volatile and extremely toxic oxide, the only metal of the platinum
group to do so, I think.The "osmic acid" ie the oxide dissolved in
water, is widely used as a microscopy stain as it so readily
redeposits osmium metal in organic tissue, ie people. Suggest that
osmium is not really an appropriate jewellery metal...Grant Pearson
Lpaul
How about Cobalt Platinum?
Larry Paul :{
Larry Paul Casting Co.,Inc.
740 Sansom St. Phila. PA ,19106
1-215-928-1644 Fax 1-215-574-1943
Casting Platinum & all precious metals since 1978
Remember if the #@%** thing don't work kick it hard!
Tim Worstall
> Another intriguing possibility: perhaps you and your
> fiancee rarely handle credit cards and computer disks? If so,
> you might consider the nutty idea of attempting to fabricate
> a matched set of rings from rare-earth magnetic materials.
> You could readily afford the aluminum-nickel-cobalt and
> samarium-cobalt alloys; neodymium-iron-boron is expensive, but
> it's the strongest permanent ferromagnetic material currently
> known (total energy product is something like 25 million gauss
> oersteds, or about 0.28 Joule per cubic centimeter, if I
> remember right.)
>
> The stuff is brown and kind of spongy-looking, as I recall.
> Although it might be neat to be able to literally "stick" to
> your wife with the considerable attractive force afforded by
> the magnets, the consequences to magnetic data storage would
> be too much for most people to tolerate.
>
> Just a thought.
>
> --
> Dave Schulman Validation Engineer, Feature Test I
> Nortel, Inc. Dept. 3K57 (ESN = 263)
> 400 Perimeter Park Drive (919) 905-4844 (Voice)
> Morrisville, NC 27560 (919) 905-2549 (FAX)
ND - Fe - B is cheaper than SmCo5 but it is very boring looking. About $
20 a lb for material ready to make magnets from . The real problem is it
normally comes as a powder, so the rings would need to be sintered.
There are other blends with higher magnetic values. Nd - Dy - Fe -V - Co
B is one, also with Tb added. The highest magnetic values ( 33.6 Teslas
) have been achieved with a Holmium core.
The rpoblem with all the rare earth metals is that they are very boring
to loook at and most oxidise fairly rapidly.
You could also try a magnetostrictive alloy.....thus when you enter a
magnetic field, the ring will tighten and your finger will drop off. If
only this could be useful!!
Yours Tim WOrstall