Three different alloys (14 and 18 ct yellow gold and a gold- titanium alloy ) have been polished with different methods (manual polishing, mass finishing with two kinds of equipment and various variations in procedures).

Several properties of the polished surface were measured:

Roughness and structure, reflectance, colour, hardness, uptake of impurities.

Besides the polishing ( and grinding) procedure material as well as structure condition show a significant influence The gold-titanium alloy was more difficult to polish than the alloys with lower caratage. The cause is supposed to be an inhomgenous structure Of the material used for the investigation.

The aim of these preliminary investigations was to demonstrate how variations in polishing procedure can influence various surface properties. More detailed investigations should follow to reveal principals of polishing mechanism and optimize procedures.

Author: Dieter Ott