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抄一段话。<br/>Iridium is one of the platinim series elements, and some time ago was
the prefered tipping material once a method was discovered to weld it
to other metals -- it occurs in Central Asia, I think, as free granular
material. It is quite hard, and provides a long wearing contact point.<br/><br/>However,
it is both much to expensive and much to difficult to form to make a
whole nib out of -- nibs were typically steel or iron until tippng
material became available (several were used, including diamonds
shellaced to tourtise shell!) because gold, while it is very corrosion
resistant, quite flexible in copper alloys, and looks nice, wears off
rather quickly, and is much to expensive to use if it won't last.<br/><br/>ure
natural iridium has not been used for nib tips for some time, probably
since the 1930s, when metallurgy improved to the point where pure
material could be refined from ore rather than just used as found, and
electric arc welding replaced white phosphorus ignition as a means off
attaching it tp steel, gold, or whatever.<br/><br/>Gold alloy works very
well for pen nibs -- corrosion resistant, fairly to very flexible and
nicely malleable without being easily deformed, and pretty. However,
it's never been inexpensive. <br/><br/>lain steel works just fine, but
corrodes in the presence of water, let alone some of the inks used over
the last couple hundred years, some of which are quite acidic or
caustic. Stainless steel (high nickel and chromium content) is much
more corrosion resistant, and can have a range of tensile
characteristis, from quite hard to fairly soft. Works very well for pen
nibs, although it is not as corrosion resistant as gold. I've seen
quite a few vintage nibs badly corroded by ink, even up to the 1950s
when Superchrome ink was sold by Parker -- that stuff ate stainless
pretty quickly. Modern inks won't touch modern stainless nibs so far as
I know, and a stainless nib works fine. In fact some of my favorite
pens are Wearever's from the '40's with stainless nibs.<br/><br/>To make
a stainless nib look like a gold one, many makers plated them with
gold. This does provide some corrosion protection (the plating is 14kt
gold, after all), but it wears off easily and once scratched loses it's
corrosion resistance.<br/><br/>Other materials are also used to plate
nibs, sometimes for functional reasons, sometimes just for looks.
Sheaffer used platinum or palladium (I think palladium, not sure) on
their two-tone nibs for many years, including the nib slit, partially
for the look and partially for better ink flow down the slit. Parker
plated their "arrow" nibs with palladium for a two-tone effect, but not
the slit. Some modern nibs are plated with rhodium, don't know whether
for looks or for function -- occasionally, the plating will cause rough
spots on the nib tipping and require wearing off to get a smooth pen,
as the nib is plated after the tipping is applied and rhodium won't
stick all that well, I don't think. <br/><br/>As far as the "best" nib
material, all things are a compromise. Gold works very well, but it's
expensive (figure $80 difference in price these days, maybe more).
Stainless is much less expensive, but not as good. Tipping materials
are proprietary, and who knows what they are now -- Parker used
ruthenium for some time, but it's softer than whatever alloy Sheaffer
used at the same time. It's fairly common to find Parker pens from the
40's through the 60's with worn tipping, while Sheaffer nibs very
rarely show such wear. <br/><br/>eter<br/> |
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