小編在前篇「飾品材質百百種，如何正確選擇是關鍵！」一文中向您介紹了消費者在購買飾品時基本需要知道的材料小知識，然而除了金、銀、銅...等等的飾品材料之外，市面上還有鍍金（Gold Plated）、注金（Gold Filled）、包金（Gold Rolled），它們算是黃金嗎？是不是也很讓您困擾呢？現在就讓小編來說明一下它們的差異吧。

鍍金是鍍什麼金？鍍真金！還是鍍金色！汙染環境又不耐用是缺點

要開始介紹鍍金之前，小編覺得需要先提一下消費者在購買飾品前應該知道的電鍍事實，再考慮是否要購買：
「購買時要先搞清楚鍍的是真金或只是金色」
「不管是哪種電鍍都無法防止掉色的結果」
「無論是飾品電鍍還是珠寶電鍍都是一樣地汙染環境」
「經過電鍍，您不可能知道藏在裡面的是什麼金屬，是否有害身體與環境」

 

鍍金就是電鍍，在金屬或合金飾品上面電鍍一層薄薄的金色、玫瑰金或是銀色，整個商品就變得賣相更好，但由於鍍金層薄，經過使用或磨擦容易退色而露出內層金屬，所以電鍍飾品不能擦拭，也必須避免長時間配戴同一飾品，因長時間配戴難免接觸到汗水造成腐蝕而露出底層；當然也就不能帶著洗澡，不能帶著洗手碰水，最重要的是無法維修保養，因為維修過後電鍍層很可能會消失，就會露出底材而需要重新電鍍。而平價電鍍則是含鎳，因為鍍鎳能讓飾品表面平整、光澤明亮，但是鎳對人體、環境有危害性（首飾鍍鎳在歐美是被禁止的），再加上電鍍工藝需要用到氰化鉀等含氰化合物作為添加劑，而氰化鉀這類含氰物質是有劇毒的，少量便可致命，並且屬於國家列管原料，所以，如果可以選擇的狀況下，建議儘量選擇沒有電鍍的飾品，因為它們沒有毒害的氰化物電鍍過程，表層沒有危害環境與人體的鎳，也沒有容易導致過敏的底材，一切皆為所見即所得，是不是簡單多了呢？另外就是電鍍層其實容易磨損消失，一般來說大約2-3個月電鍍層就會消失退色，到時只能淘汰合金飾品並且重新購買新飾品，其實精算下來CP值遠低於純銀、K金飾品，因為純銀、K金飾品是可以配戴一輩子甚至再賣回給銀樓呢。

 

注金/包金像包潤餅，飾品單調是缺點

再來就是注金，也稱為包金，如果您有吃過潤餅，那麼可以想像包著潤餅的潤餅皮就是貴金屬。雖然，它與鍍金一樣內層為其他金屬，卻是以高溫高壓將貴金屬鍛壓至其他金屬上，表面硬度強而厚、結合力也較強，比較不容易因外力使得外層的黃金磨損，而露出內層金屬。注金的表面擁有一層貴金屬，外觀上與貴金屬首飾無異。美國聯邦貿易委員會（FTC）規定，注金製品的貴金屬至少需等於產品總重量的5%（1/20），因此通常14K注金上會印製1/20 14K GF 等字樣，如果在飾品上看到「1/10 10K GF」的標示，表示該飾品的製作方式是將「商品總重的1/10以上的10K金」滾壓至金屬表面。簡單來說，注金與鍍金最大的區分是表層黃金的厚度不同且不易剝離。注金的黃金厚度是鍍金的約100倍，但是不管是鍍金或包金，都只能算是其他金屬外面包裹上「一層」黃金，所以含金量遠比K金來得少。

但是，注金/包金的飾品還是有它的缺點造成它無法廣泛被消費者接受的問題，就是這樣的高溫高壓的注金技術只能用於板狀與柱狀材料上後，再進行後續的加工，所以您可以很容易地從外觀上可以看出來一個飾品是否真的是注金/包金的工藝製作出來的。目前，常看到的注金/包金工藝所使用的是板材利用沖壓方式讓板材做出立體的感覺，但仔細看這樣的飾品的厚度都是均一的（可以想像汽車的車殼就是厚度均一的沖壓物件），所以在飾品的設計上會有所限制，也顯得單調。所以，此項工藝大部分是使用注金/包金過的線材來製作素鍊或素戒，適合運用機器來大量製作。

聰明購物省荷包，便宜不真的便宜

現在讓小編考考你，如果你看到材質寫『14K合金』，那它到底是不是K金呢？魔鬼藏在細節裡，答案是慘酷的，那不是14K金（小編崩潰）！！！它是一般合金外面電鍍14K金（甚至你必須進一步地懷疑這個鍍金層是真K金還是仿K金色而已），如果你因為誤會以為它是14K金而且很便宜就買了，那你一定會跟小編一樣捶心肝到天荒地老的。多年前小編還沒進到飾品產業前曾經在網路上買了一條14K合金手鍊，很愛，天天戴，然後有一天它突然出現不一樣的金屬光澤，小編還傻傻的努力用拭銀布擦拭，然後那塊掉色的面積就越來越大，小編緊張的拿去問了銀樓，才知道那是銅去電鍍K金色的，小編我傷心。

 

這邊也跟大家再分享一下，mittag jewelry一直堅持採用最費工、費時的方式手工拋光商品，而非使用電鍍技術就是為了避免對人體跟環境有害，另一方面我們也希望提供的是從裡到外都是一致的美麗金屬，讓大家可以天天配戴，24小時配戴，一輩子配戴，不用怕掉色，不用怕過敏，越戴越美越光亮的飾品。一件好的飾品，是可以陪伴我們長長久久的。「知道多一點，選擇好一點，購買少一點，使用久一點」，不會出錯的購物心法，邀請您與我們同行。

 

 

 

 

Gold plating, gold filled, K gold, pure gold, what is the difference?

by mittag jewelry

 

In the previous article "How to choose jewelry materials correctly is the key". We introduced you to the basic knowledge of materials that consumers need to know when buying jewelry. But in addition to gold, silver, copper accessories, there are also Gold Plated, Gold Filled, and Gold Rolled on the market. Are they considered gold? Does it bother you too? Now let us explain the differences between them.

Gold plated or gold color plated! Polluting the environment and not durable are disadvantages

Before starting to introduce gold plating, we think it is necessary to mention the facts of electroplating that consumers should know before buying jewelry, and then consider whether to buy:
"When you buy, make sure that the plating is real gold or just gold color."
"No matter what kind of plating is used, the result of color fading cannot be prevented"
"Whether it is accessory electroplating or jewelry electroplating, it pollutes the environment in the same way"
"After electroplating, it is impossible for you to know what metal is hidden inside and whether it is harmful to the body and the environment"

 

Gold plating is electroplating. A thin layer of gold, rose gold or silver color is plated on metal or alloy jewelry, and then the whole product becomes more attractive. However, due to the thin gold plating layer, it is easy to fade after use or scrub, and the inner metal will be exposed. So the electroplating jewelry cannot be wiped, and should avoid wearing the same jewelry for a long time, because the long-term wear will inevitably cause corrosion and expose the bottom layer; and of course, you can't wear it for a bath, and you can't wear it washing hands. The most important thing is that it is impossible to repair and maintain it, because the plating layer is likely to disappear after repair, and the substrate will be exposed and need to be re-plated. The cheap electroplating contains nickel, because nickel plating can make the surface of the jewelry smooth and bright, but nickel is harmful to the human body and the environment (nickel plating of jewelry is prohibited in Europe and the United States), and the electroplating process requires the use of cyanide. Cyanide-containing substances such as potassium cyanide are highly toxic, and can be fatal in small amounts. Therefore, if you can choose, it is recommended to choose jewelry without electroplating, because they have no toxic cyanide electroplating process, there is no nickel on the surface that is harmful to the environment and human body, and there is no substrate that is easy to cause allergies, everything is WYSIWYG, isn’t it much simpler? In addition, the electroplating layer is actually easy to disappear. Generally speaking, the electroplating layer will disappear and fade in about 2-3 months, and what you can do is just to buy new ones. In comparison, the C/P value is much lower than sterling silver and K gold jewelry, because sterling silver and K gold jewelry can be worn for a lifetime or even sold back to jewelry shops.

 

 

Gold filled is like a Popiah, and the disadvantage is dull

 

Then there is gold rolled, also known as gold filled. If you have eaten Popiahs, you can imagine that the Popiahs wrapped outside are precious metals. Although, like gold plating, the inner layer is made of other metals, it uses high temperature and high pressure to forge precious metals onto other metals. The surface hardness is strong and thick, and the bonding force is also strong. The gold-filled surface has a layer of precious metal, which is no different in appearance from precious metal jewelry. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stipulates that the precious metal of gold-filled products must be at least equal to 5% (1/20) of the total weight of the product, so usually 1/20 14K GF will be printed on 14K gold-filled products. Seeing the mark of "1/10 10K GF", it means that the jewelry is made by rolling "1/10 10K gold of the total weight of the product" onto the metal surface. To put it simply, the biggest difference between gold-filled and gold plating is that the thickness of the surface gold is different and it is not easy to peel off. The thickness of gold-filled gold is about 100 times that of gold-plated, but whether it is gold-plated or gold-filled, it can only be regarded as a "layer" of gold wrapped on the outside of other metals, so the gold content is far less than that of K gold.

However, gold-filled jewelry still has its disadvantages that make it unpopular to consumers, that is, such high-temperature and high-pressure gold-filled technology can only be used on plate and columnar materials, so you can easily tell from the appearance whether an accessory is really made of gold-filled process. At present, the commonly seen gold-filled process uses the plate to make the plate feel three-dimensional by stamping, but if you look carefully, the thickness of such an accessory is uniform (you can imagine that the thickness of a car shell is uniform by stamping plate objects), so there will be restrictions on the design of accessories, and it looks dull. Therefore, most of this method uses gold-filled wire to make plain chains or plain rings, which is suitable for mass production by machines.

 

Smart shopping to save money, cheap is not really cheap

 

Now let me ask you, if you see "14K alloy" written on the material, is it K gold? The devil is in the details, the answer is cruel, it's not 14K gold! ! ! It is electroplated with 14K gold on the outside of the alloy (even you have to further doubt whether the gold-plated layer is real gold or imitation gold color). If you bought it because you misunderstood that it was 14K gold and it was very cheap, then you would be as mad as I was. Many years ago, before I entered the jewelry industry, I bought a 14K alloy bracelet on the Internet. I loved it very much and wore it everyday. Then one day it suddenly had a different metallic luster. I wiped it with a polish cloth, and then the discolored area became bigger and bigger. I nervously took it to a jewelry shop and found out that it was copper that had been electroplated with K gold color. I was soooo sad.

 

Here I would like to share with you more, mittag jewelry has always insisted on using the most labor-intensive and time-consuming way to polish products by hand, instead of using electroplating technology to avoid harm to the human body and the environment. On the other hand, we also hope to provide products that from the inside to outside all made of a consistent beautiful metal, so that everyone can wear it every day, 24 hours a day, and for a lifetime without fear of fading or allergies. The more you wear it, the more beautiful and brighter it is. A good piece of jewelry can accompany us for a long time. "Know more, choose well, buy less, make it last", the infallible shopping idea, sincerely invite you to join us.