Patented Maker of Iridium Jewelry

In September 2009 Americans Elements announced the creation of the first pure Iridium Jewelry filing a patent on the invention. Since their launch Iridium wedding rings have been acquired by people as diverse as a well-known L.A. artist and an important London banker (all of whom shall remain anonymous). Iridium is the lowest tarnishing metal in the universe and will thus hold its unique silver-gray luster longer and under more extreme conditions than even gold, silver and platinum making it the perfect expression of eternal love.

Why might you ask has it taken so long for Iridium jewelry to be created? The answer lies in the high technology properties of Iridium. For example, gold melts at 1,945° F, well within the working range of jewelers. Iridium melts at a staggering 4,435° F, far outside the range a jeweler can work with. Due to this and other elemental properties of the metal, making jewelry from Iridium is extremely difficult and in fact falls within the purview of materials scientists and engineers. As materials scientists, American Elements maintains longstanding expertise producing high tech forms of Iridium for scientific, research and space applications. Now, working with NY and LA based jewelry designers, we have created and patented a pure Iridium ring or wedding band as well as other jewelry settings, bracelets and watchbands of the highest quality. Wholesale arrangements are also available to jewelry manufacturers, retailers and shopping networks.

Rings can be custom manufactured to any established ring size. See a U.S. and European ring chart for standard sizes. Iridium will virtually never change color or oxidize having the highest resistance to corrosion. Being much rarer and more difficult to produce than even platinum (it has a melting point 500° F above even platinum), an iridium wedding ring is an extremely unique and luxurious choice. AE also produce Iridium as rod , pellets , powder , pieces , granules , ingot , wire , and in compound forms, such as oxide.

Iridium is a Block D, Group 9, Period 6 element. The electronic configuration is [Xe] 4f¹⁴ 5d⁷ 6s². In its elemental form iridium's CAS number is 7439-88-5. The iridium atom has a radius of 135.7.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 200.pm. Iridium is a member of the platinum group of metals. It is the most corrosion resistant metal known. It will not react with any acid and can only be attacked by certain molten salts, such as molten sodium chloride. It is alloyed with platinum to produce highly corrosive resistant electrical contacts for spark plugs. Iridium is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. Iridium was first discovered by Smithson Tennant in 1804.