Casting with Argentium® Sterling Silver - What does it look like?

When I cast with Argentium® Sterling silver, I use a torch (MAPP gas) and a centrifuge. After heating the crucible, I add the required amount of AS. After I have started to heat the Argentium® Sterling somewhat, I add a pinch of Borax. The AS melts quite quickly and as soon as it is fully molten, I release the centrifuge. Once the piece is cast, I let it air cool. This will help the Argentium® to become quite hard. Below is a picture of the button of a cast using Argentium® Sterling Silver.

After removing the cast from the flask, I bush it off with a toothbrush. The pictures below show a cast made from Argentium® Sterling Silver (left) and one made using regular Sterling Silver (right). The cast made from AS is somewhat gray but compared to the regular Sterling Silver, it is quite bright.

As you can see, there is quite a difference! The piece is ready to pickle.

Casting Flask Temperature: Additional Information

Peter Johns, the inventor of Argentium® Sterling, sent me the following information:

"We have found that flask temperature is not critical but metal temperature is. Metal temperature should be between 1740 F and 1800 F. Flask temperature should be what is normal in standard sterling for size and weight of the piece."

"If you are casting into a steel mould I always file all sides of the ingot before rolling. I always thought this was normal practice but I recently found somebody who was not doing it and they were not getting good results."

Question: Casting Flask Temperature.

Question: I am buying AS casting grain and will use it for vacumn casting wax models as well as ingot casting rough plate to mill into sheet metal. Do you have any cautions about casting and then milling the plate? What temperature do you have the flask at when you are ready to take it out of the kiln?

Cynthia Eid's article on Argentium® http://www.cynthiaeid.com/argentium_4-8.html should be very helpful to you. She recommends a flask temperature of below 1250F. I would recommend letting the crucible cool completely before removing the piece. Your casting will be very hard and you may see no need to precipitation harden it.

I haven't been able to afford a roller mill so I won't be much help there. Once you get comfortable with Argentium® Sterling you may want to try "super annealing". First dim the lights, then heat the Argentium® Sterling up to a slight red glow for a few seconds. Be very careful not to overheat the Argentium® Sterling. If you heat it as much as you would regular Sterling Silver it will be too hot. The trick is to quench the alloy just at the right time. Too late, it will only anneal as normal. Too soon, it will develop stress cracks. The time that is right is just after the red glow is gone when seen from a darkened room.

My First Allergy test with Argentium® Sterling

I had a friend volunteer to wear a pair of Argentium® Sterling earrings for me. She has only been able to wear high karat gold. Any gold under 18 karat would cause redness and swelling in her ears. She was also not able to wear Sterling Silver. Wearing Sterling Silver would result in redness and swelling in only an hour or two. Often this would result in infections.
My friend wore the earrings for over a week with no ill affects. She liked them so much she asked me to make her some more.
After the earrings were created, I put them in the oven at 250 deg. Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. I did this to attempt to raise the germanium oxide on the surface of the earrings. After the earrings were taken from the oven, I sterilized them with alcohol.
This test was by no means conclusive, however it was a very positive result for this one person. I am looking forward to doing more testing.