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8.1 Precious Metal Powders
Precious metal powders are used as raw materials for many technical products as well as for medical and decorative applications. Among these are the manufacture of composite silver materials for electrical contacts (Ag/Ni, Ag/metal oxides, Ag/C, Ag/W, etc), catalysts, electrodes, or dental products. Besides these precious metal powders are used as the base material in preparations as well as conductive paints and adhesives.
Precious metal powders consist of small particles of approx. 1 – 100 µm diameter which distinguish themselves by particle shape, particle size and particle size distribution. Depending on the manufacturing process, silver particles may be spherical, crystalline, or dentritic. Smaller particle size typically leads to a larger surface area.