Silver on White Gold ?

[STEPHANSON]

this is my bridal set in white gold. i've been told that i should have a spacer band in between so they don't rub and damage each other. i have a plain silver band that my husband bought me on our honeymoon, and i thought it would work as a spacer and i liked how it has a sentimental value to us.

is silver rubbing on white gold okay or a big no no ?

 

[yssie]

bad idea in the long term. The silver ring will eat away at your gold rings much faster than a gold spacer would.


Scratch resistance - function of friction - moh's gives plat ~4, silver ~2, 18k ~2.5-3, which means it is relatively easy for a foreign object to scratch into any of these metals. BUT gold has 'good metal memory' (gold has higher yield strength - elastic deformation) so foreign objects won't be scratching into the gold and plastically deforming the surface and staying embedded, scratching up the silver ring next to it.

The problem is that exactly that will happen to the silver band - bits and pieces will easily become embedded into the silver surface and will scratch up the adjacent gold. Both gold and silver are easily scratched by other materials - say, tiny particles of glass (or anything that rates higher on the moh's scale). Since silver is so easily plastically deformed, those foreign particles of glass can easily dig themselves into the silver metal surface during day to day wear, and will sit there and carve into the adjacent gold rings with every little twist and turn as your finger moves. And since every scratch eats away a tiny amount of gold, the silver spacer will wear away the gold ring much faster than a gold spacer would.

A gold spacer is a better idea because gold is much more difficult to plastically deform, so these tiny particles will not be able to embed into the spacer - and you will spare your Ering and eternity.

 

[slg47]

stephanson I love your set

 

[STEPHANSON]

bad idea in the long term. The silver ring will eat away at your gold rings much faster than a gold spacer would.


Scratch resistance - function of friction - moh's gives plat ~4, silver ~2, 18k ~2.5-3, which means it is relatively easy for a foreign object to scratch into any of these metals. BUT gold has 'good metal memory' (gold has higher yield strength - elastic deformation) so foreign objects won't be scratching into the gold and plastically deforming the surface and staying embedded, scratching up the silver ring next to it.

The problem is that exactly that will happen to the silver band - bits and pieces will easily become embedded into the silver surface and will scratch up the adjacent gold. Both gold and silver are easily scratched by other materials - say, tiny particles of glass (or anything that rates higher on the moh's scale). Since silver is so easily plastically deformed, those foreign particles of glass can easily dig themselves into the silver metal surface during day to day wear, and will sit there and carve into the adjacent gold rings with every little twist and turn as your finger moves. And since every scratch eats away a tiny amount of gold, the silver spacer will wear away the gold ring much faster than a gold spacer would.

A gold spacer is a better idea because gold is much more difficult to plastically deform, so these tiny particles will not be able to embed into the spacer - and you will spare your engagement ring and eternity.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of that info !!! very helpful !!!

 

[yssie]

np

For short term wear I don't think it is much more problematic than wearing any two metals together, but I would not use a silver spacer as a long-term solution.

 

[oldminer]

By far, the best solution is to have the eternity band delicately tack soldered at the base to the engagement ring so it will not rub the other ring and will not turn. This won't damage anything and years from now you can unsolder and revolve the wedding ring a bit and re-solder it to expose new surfaces which will wear away over a long time before the wedding ring wears out in the highest wear zones.

The silver spacer sounded like a good idea, but someone who knows much more of the science seems to have provided very good advice on the subject. I can learn here, too.