Surface versus bulk
XRF reads the first few microns. A thick plating can read as solid: a thickness measurement settles the doubt.
Precious metals and watchmaking
Measuring fineness without cutting into the piece
On a piece of jewellery, an ingot or a watch component, destructive analysis is not an option. X-ray fluorescence reads the surface composition and the thickness of coatings without taking anything away — and serves gold buy-back as readily as the control of a coating a few microns thick.
Non-destructive
On finished pieces
Al → Sn
Thickness measurement
100%
Servicing carried out in Switzerland
Fineness and alloys
Carats, ingots, jewellery and alloys
Determining the fineness of gold, spotting a thin plating passed off as solid, checking the consistency of a supply: the measurement takes seconds and leaves the piece untouched.
It serves the buy-back counter as much as the workshop.
-
Characterisation of precious metals: gold buy-back, ingots, jewellery
-
Positive Material Identification on finished pieces
-
Detecting heavy metals in goldsmithing and watchmaking enamels
-
Precious stones: building a provenance traceability database
Coatings and processes
Thickness measurement and recovery from process streams
Watchmaking stacks layers: gildings, successive deposits, surface treatments. XRF measures those thicknesses from aluminium to tin, layer by layer, without a metallographic section.
It also serves downstream of the process: assessing the precious metals carried off in cutting and polishing oils means putting a figure on what leaves with the effluent.
-
Coating thickness measurement, Al to Sn: contacts, successive layers, semiconductors, watchmaking, automotive
-
Assessing precious metals in cutting and polishing oils
-
Detection of material heterogeneity
-
Corrosion products: elements by XRF, compounds by Raman
PVD: measuring what cannot be seen
Titanium nitride, decorative gold, DLC: the vacuum coatings on cases and bracelets are counted in tenths of a micron. Too much gold is costly, too little wears through — and the tolerance is held by measurement, not by eye.
X-ray fluorescence reads the thickness of titanium and gold layers on the finished part, without a cross-section. DLC, being carbon, is characterised by Raman.
Assaying gold without destroying it
Fire assay remains the reference: it melts a test portion and measures its whole mass. It also consumes it, calls for a laboratory, and is paid for on every piece.
X-ray fluorescence reads the composition in seconds, on the finished piece, without breaking into anything — but it reads only a surface. On a homogeneous alloy, the two agree — which is what the SN EN ISO 23345 standard governs. On a plated piece, fire assay settles it.
-
Calibrated in Switzerland
-
Repaired in Switzerland
-
Custom adjustments
-
Local support
Pieces to assay, coatings to measure?
We measure your pieces and show you the right instrument: alloy fineness, coating thickness, on the finished piece.