[Jewelry making - Article 00293] - Re: [Orchid] The Beilby Layer

[Les Brown]

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    I was told a long time ago that the Beilby theory was the
    explanation behind the burnishing of non-ferrous metals - ie. the
    pressure of the burnisher created heat of sufficient temperature to
    micro melt the surface and cause the "flow" resulting in a polished
    surface. 

    Since, however, burnishing is usually done with a lubricant - oil,
    soapy water, saliva, whatever - which also acts as a coolant the high
    heat theory never felt right. My experential explanation for this
    metalurgical metamorphisis of surface is compaction. Simply put, the
    tighter the atoms of the material are against each other the less
    surface irregularity to break up the reflecting light rays. 

    Polishing on a wheel, however, seems to be of a different nature in
    that poor crystaline structure cannot be improved at the surface as
    it would be with judicious burnishing. I suspect, though, that a best
    case scenario re the material being polished is that we're still
    dealing with a micro-burnishing effect as opposed to more exotic
    transformational relationships between the metal and the media. 

Les Brown
L.F.Brown Goldwork
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