Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Scott Kay Discusses Tungsten versus SK Cobalt
Scott Kay unveils New White Metal - BioBlu27 - tougher than Tungsten!
UPDATED: Scott Kay, Spectore, and Carpenter Technology Unveil BioBlu 27
An unlikely alliance formed between a jewelry designer, a metal maker, and a fabricator has produced a brand-new white metal that is more durable than tungsten carbide and costs a fraction of the price of platinum.
This report is from Jennifer Heebner, Senior Editor -- JCK Online, 10/29/2009 4:25:17 PM
Scott Kay held a press conference this morning at the Desmond Tutu Center in New York for a small group of jewelry press to officially unveil a new metal for jewelry, BioBlu 27. The material is unique in its properties--bright white and more durable than tungsten carbide, according to research by Kay and others--and in its origin; BioBlu 27 for jewelry was born from a collaboration between Kay, Edward Rosenberg, president, Spectore Corporation, Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Carpenter Technology, Wyomissing, Pa., a maker of metal alloys--some 450 to date.
The BioBlu 27 material is an alloy of 65 percent cobalt, 29 percent chromium, and 6 percent molybdenum. It
is bright white in appearance, and can be cast and/or milled, as well as inlaid with precious metals.
In a true nod to the power of "social media" - comments to the article alluded to the meaning of the name as several posters thought it was "blue metal", Ms. Heebner was able to post the update below for clarification.
UPDATE: The name does indeed come from the metallurgists at Carpenter. ‘Bio' refers to the biocompatibility of the material, which can be used in medical applications such as prosthetics, and ‘Blu' refers to the cobalt in the material. The number 27 is the number on the atomic table for cobalt.
The rest of the report is at: JCK Online
There are photos from the Press event on the Scott Kay Flickr account - the video from the event was pretty dramatic.