The Rhodium kits from PSI come with a certificate with a PG logo. Does anyone know what it stands for? Is it the plating manufacturer?
Appreciate any information.
Thanks
People know platinum but don't care for Rhodium So PSI had to "invent" the platinum group of metals [)] You have to be expensive, silvery and without a jewelry hyped name to be in [)]
Thanks Oliver,
I was told in a recent post that Rhodium was higher up on the hardness scale than platinum. I am not a metallurgist to understand how rhodium falls in the platinum group. Just wondering. I will do a search on the internet and hope to better understand the various platings.
Thanks again
Rhodium is a chemical element with the symbol Rh and atomic number 45. A rare silvery-white hard transition metal and a member of the platinum group, rhodium is found in platinum ores and is used in alloys with platinum and as a catalyst. It is usually the most expensive precious metal[2], though it is sometimes surpassed by rhenium, depending on the market.
This metal finds use in jewelry and for decorations. It is electroplated on white gold and platinum to give it a reflective white surface. This is known as rhodium flashing in the jewelry business. It also may be used in coating sterling silver in order to strengthen the metal from tarnish, as a result from the copper compound found in sterling silver.
Hi Joe,
I just read Wikepedia too and it says, Quote "As of Oct.2007, Rhodium cost 8X more than gold and 450X more than silver." Just beginning to wonder if the Rhodium platings on pen kits are real quality stuff as the kit prices seem not to reflect this.
Spot gold is about $883 per ounce, spot platinum is $2,030 per ounce and spot rhodium is about $9,450 per ounce. Typically platinum and rhodium can be plated at about 3-4 microns thickness and still have decent wear characteristics. At that thickness, you could (theoretically) cover several football fields with an ounce of rhodium or platinum. Gold's wear characteristics are much worse, which is why the thin 24k platings wear off so fast.