The Precious Project: Polishing and Finishing of Additive Manufacturing (AM) Jewelry

The Additive Manufacturing (AM) of precious metal jewelry is slowly gaining traction in the global jewelry industry with many companies now starting to adopt or consider the technology. There are still two key areas that need to be improved in order to speed up the adoption of the technology: 1) design for AM and 2) polishing and finishing of AM jewelry. This paper explores the various polishing and finishing techniques available for precious metal AM jewelry. Additive manufacturing of jewelry can prove to be particularly effective commercially when used to produce geometrically complex jewelry designs or personalized, individualized and customized jewelry items. These designs, by their very complex nature, can present many unique and product-specific challenges when being finished and polished. There are a number of mechanical, sometimes called mass finishing, polishing technologies now available that the jewelry manufacturer needs to consider using in combination with their AM technology while also being mindful that, like all high-end jewelry, traditional hand polishing methods will still be required to provide the desired final highluster polish to the jewelry item. The following information largely details the work carried out by members of the UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB) Precious Consortium1 investigating various mass finishing techniques for AM jewelry as well as introducing new and novel finishing techniques and methodologies for AM jewelry developed since the conclusion of the project