mention zircon . Friends who love jewelry often think of super flash fire color and low price. A "imitation diamond fever" in previous years also made "zircon" on jewelry labels synonymous with cheap fake diamonds.
"Zircon" ring
For a time, "Zircon" became an ambiguous gem "gray area". Many consumers don't understand what "Zircon" is: it is a cheap synthetic product. Why is the "Zircon" in the hands of gem merchants so exquisite and exquisite? It is a natural gem, so why is it so cheap? This is the concept of that mixes the concept of "natural zircon" and " to form the square zirconia ". After reading this article, I believe you will have a clearer understanding of them.
What is zircon?
WHAT IS ZIRCONITE?
colorless natural zircon
zircon is a common medium and high-end natural gem . It has high hardness and strong dispersion. It has a very beautiful fire color after cutting into faceted gemstones. Nearly half a century ago, when various imitation diamond materials were not yet developed, colorless zircon was the best alternative to diamonds. Modern jewelry is mainly colorless and blue zircon.
Blue zircon
In many museums in the world, contains zircon treasures . For example, in the National Museum of History, there is a blue zircon weighing 208ct and a brown zircon weighing 100ct. Zircons of different colors are favored by gem collectors.
Zircon Complete crystallization
Features : High hardness but extremely easy to brittle , the edges of the faceted edges are easily damaged, and even damaged by friction and collision with the wrapping paper. This phenomenon is often called "paper corrosion effect" . Therefore, zircon must be wrapped in soft paper when packaging. The dispersion is high, and as a faceted gem, you can see colorful fire colors. Zircon in nature is mainly brown and yellow , and blue individuals are rare, so they are extremely precious and expensive. Almost all blue and near-colorless zircons on the market have been heat treated with .
Origin : Sri Lanka is famous for producing zircons of various colors, Thailand is the main source of gem-grade zircons. Zircon is also produced in Wenchang, Hainan and Mingxi, Fujian.
Chemical composition : ZrSiO4 contains trace amounts of radioactive element impurities. In the field of geology research, it is often used as a marker mineral as determined in s. According to the degree of internal structure damage, it is divided into high, medium and low zircon. Gem-grade natural zircon belongs to high zircon.
high brittle zircon faceted edges are easily worn, which is called the "paper corrosion effect" ✦ + Zircon color is mainly brown-yellow, blue and red are rare and precious. Most blue zircons on the market have been heat treated
As a one-axis crystal positive optical heterogeneous body. Due to its super high birefringence, we can observe the "ghost shadow" on the facet edge of with the naked eye. This is also one of the identification indicators of natural gem-grade zircon.
The ghosting of the faceted edge of the zircon can be observed by the naked eye
. After understanding natural zircon, let us now know the real "six-eared macaque" - the syntactic zirconia
What is syntactic zirconia?
WHAT IS CUBIC ZIRCONIA?
Since is called "zircon" in the product material, in fact, the colorless or colored gems that we see on some cheap jewelry shining with exaggerated fire or colored gems is exactly combined with the zirconia . Some illegal merchants promote the zirconium they sell as natural gemstones that have been optimized and processed, and use this to mix fish with beads to increase their "value". In fact, the co-clad zirconia is the complete laboratory product of . Many consumers mistakenly regard cubic zirconia , which is marked as "zircon", as a natural gem, which is a waste of money.
cubic zirconia is a photometric homogenous body, and there is no ghosting phenomenon
synthesized zirconia is a gem produced and synthesized by cold crucible method . In 1976, Russian scientists who invented this synthesis method applied for a patent for this method. Due to the good physical properties of zirconia , the colorless variety quickly replaced other imitation diamond materials at that time.
cold crucible method diagram
combined zirconia is easy to dopant and color, and can obtain various crystals of brightly colored , and has very stable chemical properties, so it is welcomed by gem merchants and consumers. Its hardness is as high as 8 to 8.5, and its high dispersion makes the faceted gemstone made of fire-colored a bit exaggerated. The cold crucible method can produce a large amount of cylindrical zirconia at an extremely low cost. 60kg of cubic zirconia crystals can be grown within 20 hours. The raw materials for forming crystals can also be reused. The cost of a one-carat cubic zirconia finished product is about a few cents , while natural gem-grade zircon of the same weight can be distributed from 200-1000 according to the quality price.
Due to the low cost, the joint square zirconia faceted naked stones are often sold wholesale. A large number of naked stones are placed in a packaging bag to rub against each other, and it will also cause to have sporadic scratches on the faceted.
zirconia is not a monster
Although it is not advisable to use zirconia to counterfeit diamonds, zirconia is also not a "mouse crossing the street" that everyone calls for.
As a synthetic gem with excellent physical and chemical properties and low-priced properties, crushed diamonds made of cubic zirconia are often used to inlaid some jewelry with less expensive materials. Just imagine a piece of silver-intact crystal jewelry that wants to make a gorgeous inlay effect, if you use diamonds as a material, the price of buying broken diamonds will exceed the remaining material itself, which will be overwhelming. At this time, it is very suitable to use durable and beautiful cubic zirconia.
Some exaggerated fashion jewelry will also use exaggerated color as the main stone. This not only allows mass production of natural gems, but also gives these fashion brands some opportunities to use large gems. The finished products are often very personalized and have a strong sense of design , which is also a compromise in the jewelry making process.
The following are the recommended identification guides for natural zircon and cubic zirconia compiled by Jewelry for you. We recommend collecting it! !
The three elements of gemstone are magnificent, durable and rare, and the combined zirconium oxide accounts for two of them. We despise counterfeiting that disrupts the market, but we should also face the advantages of synthetic gemstones.This article is not only to "pledge" natural zircon, but also hopes that friends who love jewelry do not need to be biased when they see the "zircon" labels on some jewelry.
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