Different popular synthetic gemstones

Right from antiquity, gemstones have been source of admiration and an item for possession for royalty and wealthy. The desire for gemstones led to their imitation in the forms of glass, plastic, composites, and treated gems. There are some materials made by man which are commonly used as substitutes for natural stones. These are called synthetic stones and have properties identical to those of the natural stones. While some of the stones can be easily identified on the other hand there are some which can not be easily detected.

The synthetic can be defined as the material created in controlled conditions in a laboratory using the same ingredients found in the natural products. Though most of the synthetic gems have physical, chemical and optical properties identical as the natural gem, there are some exceptions like coloring chemical which can be different from the natural coloring agent. An imitation can be defined as an artificial likeness or copy of synthetic or natural gemstone. It is not necessary that imitations can be exclusively synthetics and not all synthetics imitate. There are some synthetics like Cubic Zirconia which are marketed as a gem in their own right though their natural counterparts are present but they are extremely rare. For a long time golden -colored quartz citrine was used in place of topaz as birthstone rings.

The first attempt at synthesizing the gemstone was successful in 1838.A.V Verneuil a French Chemist created synthetic ruby stones in 1888 through flame fusion process. In this process powered aluminum oxide is melted with dye additives forming molten material in the boule. The crystalline structure is identical to the natural gem though it does not have crystal faces. The success of this method inspired the chemists to create sapphires and by 1910 synthetic blue sapphires were produced. Later some other colored like alexandrite, yellow and green sapphires were perfected. The later years saw development of another method called flux -growth process which takes longer time to produce gemstones which are identical to the real ones. These stones are cut to near ideal proportion and appear flawless to the naked eye. By 1947 star rubies and sapphires were being manufactured by adding rutile to the smelting process. In addition synthetic emeralds came out of the laboratories right from 1940s.Diamond synthesis for industrial purposes began as early as 1950s in Sweden and United States. By 1970s gem quality synthetics were created to perfection. Every year new techniques are coming up to get that perfect stone. Today Chatham and Gilson are the leading producers of synthetic stones in the world. Some of the Popular Synthetic Gemstones produced in the world today include alexandrite, coral, diamond, emerald, garnet, lapis lazuli, quartz, ruby, sapphire, spinel, and turquoise.

Synthetic Ruby: Ruby was the first gemstone to be grown synthetically in the laboratory. Louis Verneiul was the first chemist to produce synthetic ruby through flame fusion method. The rubies grown through this method are usually inferior in quality and used mostly in cheap and low-priced jewelry. The other method through which rubies are grown is known as flux method. These are expensive as they are grown under controlled temperature using the materials which are nearly identical with the natural gemstones. These stones can be identified by their characteristic inclusions. Some of the popular synthetic rubies available under various brand names in world market are Douros from Greece, Chakravorty, Ramaura, Kashm and Chatham which are exceptional in beauty and fineness.


Synthetic Diamond: Some of the synthetic variations of diamond include synthetic rutile also known as Titania or Diamonite.It was created in 1948.Fabulite or Diagem created in 1953, YAG (Yattrium Aluminum Garnet) or diamonaire produced since 1969, Galliant or Gadolinium gallium garnet, Djevalite and Cubic zirconia. A recent addition is Moissanite which has become a popular diamond imitation.

Synthetic Emerald: Synthetic Emerald is produced by various methods like flux growth, hydrothermal and lechleitner overgrowth methods. They are sold world wide under the brand names of Gilson and Chantham. They look so perfect that it is difficult to differentiate from real emerald. The lab grown emeralds have same composition and physical properties but higher perfection then the natural stones. The chemical composition is Beryllium aluminum silicate adding color with dopants such as chromium or vanadium.
Synthetic Amethyst: Synthetic Amethyst is inexpensive to produce therefore easily available everywhere. It is produced through mixing with parcels of natural stones. It can be detected by absence of twinning.
Alexandrite: Synthetic Alexandrite is created either by the Czochralski or pulled method or by the floating zone or floating point method. It is composed from same Chrysoberyl family as the natural stone with chemical composition Beryllium Aluminum Oxide. It is quite expensive and looks beautiful when put into jewelry.

Cubic Zirconia: A cheap substitute of diamond it is produced inexpensively. These are easy to detect from the real diamonds through thermal diamond probes. These stones are durable and affordable with high refractive index and brilliant dispersion. They reflect unusual brilliance and fire. They are available in variety of colors added by dopants at the production stage.

Moissanite: Moissanite as a substitute of diamond arrived with a bang in the gem world. This synthetic silicon carbide crystal was discovered by scientists at North Carolina State University. The natural Moissanite is deep green in color and found as a crystal only in meteorites. The synthetic stone is colorless and its high refractive index and extreme hardness makes it difficult to be detected by diamond probes testing thermal conductivity.


Garnets: There are some manmade stones like Yattrium Aluminium Garnet or YAG and Gallium Gadolinium Garnet or GGG which are easily available in the gemstone market. These are purely made in the laboratories without any natural counterpart. These have the basic crystallographic structure with dopants added to create different colours. The hardness and refractive index of garnet is better than those of emerald. These are hard and brilliant stones available in variety of colors such as green, red, yellows and oranges.


Synthetic Sapphires: Synthetic sapphires come in almost all colors but the most desirable and beautiful is deep blue sapphire. It is basically Aluminium oxide with dopants added to give different colours. These are synthesized from the melted material at temperature over 2000C.They have identical composition and physical properties as the natural stone with high degree of perfection achieved over the years. There is another well-known synthetic variation of natural Padparadscha sapphire exhibiting a beautiful range of colors from dark orange red to orange pink and light pink. They is grown through submerging in a slowly cooling high-temperature liquid. These stones show unmatched brilliance when cut.

Zincite: A man -made stone Zincite is relatively rare and not commercially available for sale. As it is a simple oxide of Zinc its hardness is somewhere 4.5 therefore it is not recommended for heavy jewelry.

Citrine: It is yellow-orange transparent quartz sometimes mistaken for Topaz.

There are some varieties of Peridot, Corals, Lapis lazuli and Jade which are also laboratory grown and look simply stunning as pieces of jewelry.
 

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