about our materials
Fineness of Platinum
International standards define 5 qualities of Platinum:
- Jewel Platinum:
Platinum with a fineness 950/1000
Containing 5% palladium or copper. For technical aims e.g. Labware unusable - Technically pure platinum:
Platinum with a fineness 995/1000 (2N fineness)
Usable for technical aims e.g. Labware - Chemically pure platinum:
Platinum with a fineness 999/1000 (3N fineness)
The impurity is less then 1‰, its verification requires minimum chemistry methods - Physically pure platinum:
Platinum with a fineness 999.9/1000 (4N fineness)
The verification of impurity requires minimum physical methods - Spectroscopewise pure platinum:
Platinum with a fineness 999.99/1000 (5N fineness)
The impurity can be verified with a spectroscope only
Our products are made of platinum with a fineness 998/1000, even if a fineness 995/1000 would be acceptable.
Platinum Labware include also other platinum metals e.g. Ir or Au, to rise its solidity, heat resistance and its resistance to chemical influences, because platinum by its own would be too weak for the everyday use e.g. in laboratories.
Precious and platinum metals useability for alloys
Six of the Platinum Group Metals (PGMs), just as their often together occuring ores, have a high melting point and a great resistance to chemical influences.
Similar to how these metals take place in the periodic table we can make a difference between two subgroups. The upper row in the table is the lighter, the under row in the table represent the heavier group, which have approximately a two times higher specific weight.
Each precious metal has its couple with similar characteristics in the other group. Ruthenium is similar to osmium. Unalloyed are both not machinable. Rhodium is similar to irridium. Both are quite hard precious metals and not easily to machine. Palladium is similar to platinum. Both are softer metals and easily to machine. Because of that they are the most popular precious metals in the industry. Like gold to silver is platinum the more expensive couple of palladium.
The electric conductivity of each pair is similar, too.
Physical data of platinum and other precious metals
Commonly used alloys
| Platinum Alloy | Use | |
| Pt 95% | Ir 5% | Laboratory Platinum (LP), raw material for Labware and industrial uses |
| Pt 95% | Rh 5% | |
| Pt 95% | Au 5% | |
| Pt 97% | Ir 3% | |
| Pt 90% | Rh 10% | |
| Pt 96% | Cu 4% | raw material for jewels |
| Pt 95% | Cu 5% | |
| Pt 90% | Ir 10% | raw material for special uses |
| Pt 85% | Ir 15% | |
| Pt 80% | Ir 20% | |
| Pt 65% | Ir 35% | |
| Pt 80% | Rh 20% | |
These are only the most common alloys. Apart from these also other alloys/materials can be ordered from us.
Technical data of some alloys
| Material | Tensile strength [kg/mm²] |
Elasticity [%] |
Brinell hardness [kg/mm²] | Solution in hot aqua reqia, proportion |
| emollited on 1000°C | ||||
| chemical pure Pt | 24 | 35 | 55 | 1.0 |
| Pt95%-Ir5% | 30 | 15 | 100 | 0.5 |
| Pt90%-Ir10% | 48 | 13 | 140 | 0.25 |
| Pt85%-Ir15% | 64 | 12 | 185 | 0.17 |
| Pt80%-Ir20% | 80 | 11 | 230 | 0.0 |
Multipliers
Usefull multipliers for calculating
the weight of Labware made of other precious metals
| Material/Alloy | Multiplier |
| Ir | 1.09 |
| Pt | 1.00 |
| Au80%-Pt20% | 0.92 |
| Au90%-Pt10% | 0.91 |
| Au | 0.90 |
| Au90%-Pd10% | 0.87 |
| Au80%-Pd20% | 0.83 |
| Au70%-Pd30% | 0.80 |
| Ag70%-Pt30% | 0.64 |
| Ag80%-Pt20% | 0.59 |
| Ag90%-Pt10% | 0.54 |
| Rh | 0.58 |
| Pd | 0.56 |
| Pd50%-Ag50% | 0.50 |
| Ag | 0.49 |