
The man behind the Apple Watch - robin_reala
http://preview.howtospendit.ft.com/technology/77791-the-man-behind-the-apple-watch
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chiph
> Ive explains how the molecules in Apple gold are closer together, making it
> twice as hard as standard gold.

Wait, what?

~~~
robin_reala
Their metallurgists have come up with a novel process:
[http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=...](http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=20140361670.PGNR).
(the last full stop is significant but HN strips it and I can’t work out how
to reference the patent directly)

~~~
chiph
_The ceramic particles increase a hardness of the precious metal matrix
composite compared to the continuous metal material without the ceramic
materials. The precious metal matrix composite includes about 75% precious
metal by mass._

Ok, that makes more sense. The ceramic would indeed make the resulting
composite harder. And has a side benefit of reducing the amount of gold used.
Starting from 24k (pure) gold, the 75% ratio gets them to 18k, commonly used
in jewelry in the US.

