When processing the raw material gold into a valuable and durable piece of jewellery, numerous material properties have to be taken into account in order to ultimately create a high-quality product. For example, pure gold is very soft and can hardly be processed into a durable piece of jewellery. However, in order to preserve the attractive gold colour in the jewellery and simultaneously produce a solid piece of jewellery with a high value, there are alloys such as 14ct gold. This consists of 58.5% pure gold, the rest is made up of silver, copper, palladium or other metals. Depending on the ratio of the different components in the gold alloy, the colour of the material also changes and a great variety of different jewellery pieces can be created. Only the 58.5% pure gold remains the same in this type of alloy. If 20.8% fine silver and 20.7% copper are added, the classic white gold or silver colour can be obtained. By adding 14% silver and 27.5% copper, the 14ct gold becomes redder and darker (rose gold), and with 8.3% silver and 33.2% copper it becomes a darker red gold. It is popular in jewellery making because of its high resistance and beautiful appearance.
