The melting point of gold is 1064°C. At this temperature, pure gold changes from solid to liquid, and this is precisely the point at which it can be cast or remelted. If you want to do it yourself, everything starts with one of the melting furnaces that reliably reaches this temperature.
What is the melting point of gold in degrees?
The melting point of gold is 1064°C, or more precisely 1064.18°C. Converted, that is 1337 K and 1947°F. This makes gold one of the precious metals that can be melted without industrial equipment: a gas-fired melting furnace or a good gas torch can easily exceed this temperature.
For comparison, the boiling point of gold is much higher, around 2856°C. You will never reach that point during casting, so your gold will not evaporate while you are working.
In practice, the melting point is especially important, as it determines which oven, torch, and crucible you need. Keep in mind that your equipment must not only reach 1064°C, but also maintain that heat evenly while you are casting. For orientation: gold melts at a higher temperature than silver, which becomes liquid around 962°C, but lower than copper with a melting point of approximately 1085°C.
Melting point of gold per carat
The melting point of gold changes per carat, because carat indicates how much pure gold is in the alloy. Pure gold is 24 carat; the lower the carat, the more other metals such as copper and silver have been added.
This addition lowers the melting point, so 14-carat gold melts at a lower temperature than 24-carat gold. If you know the carat of your gold, you will roughly know at what temperature it melts and what equipment you need. Below you can see what to expect per common purity.
Melting point of 24 carat gold
24 carat gold melts at 1064°C, because this is pure gold without alloy. It is the reference temperature that jewelers and casters use.
Pure gold is also the softest, which is why it is rarely used in jewelry but often in bars and coins. If you are calculating with 24 carat, you are calculating with that fixed melting point of 1064°C, without the leeway associated with alloys.
Melting point of 18 carat gold
18 carat gold melts between 900 and 950°C, depending on the alloy. This purity contains 75% gold, supplemented with copper, silver, or palladium.
It is precisely these additions that determine where within that range the melting point falls: more copper or silver lowers the temperature, while palladium in white gold actually raises the melting point. For most gold jewelry, 18 carat is the upper limit you encounter, and that explains why an alloy for jewelry behaves differently than a bar of pure gold.
Melting point of 14 carat gold
14 carat gold melts between 879 and 927°C and therefore has the lowest melting point of these three. With 58.3% gold, it contains more alloy than 18 or 24 carat, which further lowers the melting temperature.
This lower melting point is not a disadvantage, as it makes 14 carat gold easier to work with and cast. However, the range is wider, because the exact composition varies per alloy and each smith uses slightly different proportions.
Why do alloys lower the melting point of gold?
Alloys lower the melting point of gold because the added metals disrupt the regular atomic structure of pure gold. In pure gold, the atoms are in a tight lattice that requires a lot of heat to break free.
If you add copper, silver, or zinc, these atoms interrupt that lattice and the alloy melts at a lower temperature. An alloy therefore often does not have a sharp melting point but a small range in which it goes from pasty to completely liquid.
These same additions also determine the color of the gold. More copper gives red gold, more silver, a lighter yellow tint, and palladium or nickel produces white gold. Thus, the alloy determines both the color and the melting point of the gold.
Not every metal lowers the melting point. Palladium and platinum themselves have a higher melting point than gold, so a white gold alloy with palladium can actually melt at a higher temperature than yellow gold of the same carat. The direction of the effect therefore depends on what you add, not just on how much.
What temperature do you need to melt gold?
To melt gold, you need a source that goes well above 1064°C and maintains that heat evenly. A gas-fired melting furnace or a strong torch can achieve this without difficulty; the art lies in even heating, not in extreme peaks. A furnace completely encloses the gold and keeps the temperature stable, while a torch works faster and more targeted but requires more practice.
You place the gold itself in a graphite or ceramic melting crucible, because these materials withstand temperatures far above the melting point of gold. If you opt for separate components, look for melting crucibles that match the volume of gold you want to melt, because a crucible that is too large wastes heat and one that is too small overflows.
Always work in a ventilated area with heat-resistant gloves, an apron, and safety glasses. Liquid gold emits a lot of heat and can splash if poured carelessly, so a calm, tidy workplace saves a lot of trouble. Slowly preheat your crucible so that moisture and tension are gone before the gold melts.
Remelting gold into a bar
To remelt gold into a bar, you pour the molten gold into a mold and let it solidify. As soon as the gold is liquid, pour it into a preheated mold so that it hardens evenly without air bubbles.
For a bar, you use a rectangular mold; for granules or jewelry, you work with other molds. Preheat the mold first, because if you pour into a cold mold, the gold cools too quickly and you get cracks or cavities. In our range of molds, you will find graphite models and molds for sand casting.
A pinch of borax in the crucible helps to bind impurities and pour the gold cleaner. After solidification, let the gold cool down slowly before removing it from the mold. Remelting is therefore not only a way to reuse old gold, but also the step in which you determine the final shape of your gold yourself, such as a rough bar or a finished piece of jewelry.
Do you want to melt and cast gold yourself? At Parrot Shopping, you will find the melting furnaces, melting crucibles, and molds to get to temperature and create your own work, with personal advice if you are unsure about what fits.
