Detecting Iridium in Gold Jewelry: Identification & Analysis

Question
how to identify whether iridium is mixed in the jewelery?
and also in melted gold . Is it possible to say by physical appearance of  melted gold whether iridium is mixed or Not?

Answer
Dear Chandra Sekar,

I do wish a look could tell the make up of precious metal alloys. Iridium is often added to platinum to make pure platinum suitable for jewelry use, generally in either 5% or 10% iridium by weight. Still, to identify the iridium is only a guess. The alloy could contain ruthenium or even palladium and I could not know the difference by physical appearance.

I believe identification of a specific metal within an alloy will require more sophisticated testing and that testing could be quite demanding in equipment needed.

Best Wishes and Blessings.     Thomas.