Precious metals are real and to detect the originality of a precious metal, a handheld XRF analyzer is needed. Precious metals are valuable, therefore making jeweller or other manufacturers to mix metals and other materials to fake the appearance of gold, silver, platinum or palladium.

Gold plating and counterfeit items are just some of the challenges that jeweller, gold traders and pawn shop owners face on a daily basis. Businesses require accurate results to remove variability and subjectivity from determining item value to ensure a profitable transaction.

The handheld XRF analyzer accurately determines the content of gold and all precious metals such as silver, platinum and palladium in materials. For precious metal analysis, such as jewelry or dental alloys, fast and nondestructive handheld XRF analyzers which require little sample preparation are most frequently used for analysis of precious metals.

• Chemical assay, fire assay and other alternative methods of testing precious metals seem increasingly out of date in the 21st century. The handheld XRF analyzer puts the state of the art metal testing method into your hands.
• Precious metals are today of interest for jewelry, industrial use, and investment. With the handheld XRF analyzer, materials can be detected and tested for content and purity with extreme cases.

• Detecting the authenticity of precious metals can be done in a number of ways. The most common methods are:
• Naked eye or using a jeweller’s loupe- An experienced jeweler can verify the authenticity and quality of some jewelry by looking at it under magnification. This method is not always accurate.

• Weight/density measurement- Gold is a dense metal, the idea behind this test that if you drop a gold piece in water and measure how much liquid it displaces, you can determine whether it is pure gold. However, gold is often alloyed with other metals in legitimate jewelry, making this test unreliable.
• Markings- Gold jewelry sometimes has identifying marks that indicate its purity, such as 24k or 20k, but these can be faked.

• Nitric acid- A piece of gold is scratched against a testing slab to leave a mark. Nitric acid is applied to the mark to see whether it will dissolve. Depending on the acid’s concentration, the purity of the gold can be determined. This method however causes damages to precious metals.
• XRF analysis method is a completely nondestructive method, XRF analysis leaves the jewelry intact and undamaged. The portable XRF analyzer sends x-rays into the jewelry, exciting the atoms and causing them to fluoresce energy back to the analyzer’s detector. This tool uses fluorescence x-rays to determine the jewelry’s material chemistry.

• With the use of the Silicon Drift Detector (SDD), it is used for fire assay analysis of precious metals. Fire assay determines precious metal content by measuring weight loss after removing base metals through cupellation. Handheld XRF analyzer on the other hand uses x-ray fluorescence to excite the sample and calculate returning characteristic x-rays.
• A skilled operator of fire assay can produce results that are accurate up to 0.035%. This process takes time and most times results often differ when testing is done several times.
• Anyone above the age of 18 can be taught how to operate the handheld XRF analyzer in less than an hour.
• For speedy and accurate evaluation of precious metals, handheld XRF is the tool of choice.

Handheld XRF analyzer works accurately when it comes to analyzing precious metal swiftly, precisely, easily and non-destructively. This is a tremendous value to all precious metal specialists, recyclers, refiners, miners, bulk jewelry producers, etc.

Given today’s high value for precious metals, many jewelry stores have become involved in the purchase of old jewelry and scrap jewelry. Using a handheld XRF analyzer, it is possible to determine the content of the item offered for sale and its karat value in less than a minute.

The handheld XRF analyzer can identify karats and percentage of gold and percentage of silver, platinum and palladium in less than 5 seconds as well as perform a complete analysis in less than 10 seconds. Since the handheld XRF displays the value to one hundredth of a decimal point, you will not only be able to identify if the precious material you are buying is below karat, you will also be able to identify by exactly how much.

This non-destructive method can analyze gold (Au), silver (Ag), Platinum (Pt), Palladium (Pd) and many more precious metal and base metal alloys: karat gold, low grade gold, gold plated, gold plated, silver grades, platinum alloys.

Using handheld XRF analyzers to test and analyze precious metals encompasses a multitude of advantages. Precious metals are not exposed to harsh chemicals during testing and analysis.

The non-destructive analytical method known as X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is used to ascertain the elemental makeup of materials. By exposing a sample to high-energy X-rays, which excite the sample’s atoms and cause them to generate X-ray fluorescence light, XRF analysis is carried out. The elemental makeup of the sample is then ascertained by measuring and analyzing this fluorescence emission. A vast range of materials, including metals, minerals, ceramics, polymers, and more, can be subjected to XRF investigation. In fields including mining, metal refining, manufacturing, and environmental analysis, it is frequently employed.

The handheld XRF analyzer is able to detect the following elements in materials: Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Gallium, Germanium, Zirconium, Niobium, Molybdenum, Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Silver, Tin, Antimony, Hafnium, Tantalum, Tungsten, Rhenium, Platinum, Gold, Latin Plumbum, Bismuth, Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Phosphorus and Sulphur. Other materials the XRF analyzer can detect are: plastic, soil, ore, ceramic, paint, paper, etc.