What Percentage of 18-Karat Gold Is Silver

18-karat gold is a popular choice for jewelry, but what is it made of, besides gold? Let’s see how much silver there is in a typical 18K gold piece.

Karat is a measure of gold content. The karat of a gold item is calculated by dividing the mass of pure gold in it by its total mass and multiplying the result by 24.

18-karat gold has a purity of 75% (18/24). Therefore, 25% of 18K gold is made up of other metals. The most common metals used in gold alloys are copper, silver, zinc, and nickel.

Silver Content in 18K Yellow Gold

The yellow gold alloy used in jewelry is usually made by mixing pure gold with copper and silver.Usually, the silver content in 18K yellow gold can vary between 10% and 13%. A typical 18-karat yellow gold alloy contains the following metals: 75% gold, 12.5% copper, and 12.5% silver. Another common 18-karat alloy contains the same metals in the following proportions: 75% gold, 15% copper, and 10% silver.

The silver content of such an alloy is most likely to be in the 10-12% range.

Silver Content in 18K White Gold

White gold is made by covering a yellow gold alloy with rhodium, which makes the piece's surface look white and shiny. An 18K white gold alloy also contains 75% gold, but the makeup of the rest is slightly different. 18K gold may contain nickel, manganese, or palladium, which make the resulting alloy look whiter than a yellow gold mixture. Other metals that 18K gold can contain are zinc and platinum.

A common white gold alloy contains 75% gold, 2.5% silver, 8% nickel, 10% copper, and 4.5% zinc. White gold does not necessarily contain silver- it is not uncommon for white gold alloys to be made without this metal.

The silver content of an 18K white gold can vary widely  from 0% to more than 5%.

The article comes from China Chang'an stainless steel jewelry  manufacturer - A2A, the website is www.stainlesssteelacc.com .