USES OF GOLD IN JEWELRY

Gold plays a dominant role in the jewellery market. This is to a large extent due to the intrinsic value of gold, its beauty and its unique resistance to tarnish and corrosion. In 1990 the amount of gold used i n jewellery was about 2000 t worldwide, reaching about 75% of the tota l demand for gold. The demands on gold materials for jewellery, its ap plications in the form of bulk material for wrought and cast jewellery and as gold solutions for electrodeposition and electroforming as wel l as activities to introduce powder materials for the manufacture of j ewellery are described. Today's conventional carat gold alloys are rev iewed; coloured gold alloys based on the Au-Ag-Cu system, as well as t he white gold alloys, based on Au-Ni or Au-Pd alloys. Additionally, th e development of special gold alloys is mentioned, for instance that o f a very high carat gold alloy, 990 gold-titanium.