Alternative Metals

Many modern jewelry designs are made of alternative metals such as tungsten, titanium, niobium, and stainless steel.

Tungsten is especially popular for rings. The metal is blended with carbon and a bonding metal, usually cobalt, to form tungsten carbide. Because it’s extremely hard, tungsten carbide takes and retains a high polish. It’s dark gray and highly resistant to scratching. One ring maker promotes tungsten carbide rings as being “permanently polished.”

Tungsten carbide is about 15 times denser than water. That makes it about 75 percent as dense as gold and platinum, and 50 percent denser than silver. While tungsten carbide has good heft, it’s not easy to work, so its jewelry uses are limited.

Jewelry makers sometimes use pure titanium or a titanium alloy. These materials are lightweight but very strong. Titanium is only about half as dense as silver, so it doesn’t have the heft of the precious metals. It’s silver-gray in color and often polished or brushed.

Pure titanium is hypoallergenic, meaning it won’t cause allergic reactions or skin discoloration. It’s often used for pierced earrings and other body jewelry. It resists scratching about as well as 14K gold. Alloying titanium with small amounts of aluminum and vanadium increases its durability and scratch resistance.

Titanium is difficult if not impossible to work, so jewelry pieces must be mechanically cut, shaped, and assembled. Because the pure metal is difficult to extract and manufacturing is labor-intensive, titanium jewelry is priced in the same range as precious metal jewelry.

Niobium is popular with custom jewelry designers and manufacturers because it’s easy to work with and to color. Niobium can’t be soldered—it’s joined with rivets or tiny screws—but its workability is comparable to silver’s. In fact, any item a jewelry maker can create with gold, silver, or platinum, he or she can create with niobium.

Because niobium is hypoallergenic, it’s popular for body-piercing jewelry. It’s almost as dense as silver, so while it doesn’t have the heft of gold or platinum, it feels more substantial than titanium. Niobium is also much harder to scratch than any of the precious metals and much harder to dent than silver and platinum. It’s also extremely resistant to corrosion.

Niobium, tungsten, and titanium can be heated or anodized to produce brilliant colors. Anodizing is an electrochemical process that results in a protective or decorative coating on metal. Anodized niobium colors include navy blue, light blue, yellow, rose, bronze, pink, magenta, midnight blue, and various greens. The color is so vivid that many people think it’s enamel.

Stainless steel is an alloy. Its composition varies with its purpose, but to be called stainless steel it must be at least 10.5 percent chromium. The presence of chromium creates an invisible surface film that resists oxidation. Most stainless steel alloys are strong and ductile, and all are corrosion resistant.

The stainless steel alloy used to make jewelry is composed of iron, chromium, and nickel. It’s more scratch resistant than any of the three precious metals, but it exceeds only silver in its resistance to denting. It also takes a high polish.