Of course, diamonds are precious and make beautiful pieces of jewelry, but they are often outside the reach of common folks who look for something equally beautiful at affordable prices. Cubic zircona is often the choice of such people.
This synthetically produced stone has been a good competitor of diamonds ever since it was exploited for making jewelry in 1976.
History
Zirconium oxide (ZrCO2) in its natural form was discovered in 1892. Its high melting point of 2750 degrees Celsius posed serious technical problems to its development, as no container could withstand that high a temperature.
In 1930, German chemists successfully stabilized the material synthetically. Later on, in the 1970s, Soviet scientists first produced crystals of zirconium, which we know today as cubic zirconia.
Originally, the idea was to develop a material that could be employed in laser technology. It didn’t take long to realize that the material had an amazing resemblance to diamonds.
Features
Many of the properties of cubic zirconia are akin to a diamond. Quite like natural diamond, its crystal has an isometric structure, its most prominent feature, making it so much like diamonds.
When we talk of hardness, it measures 8.5 on Mohs scale, compared to 10 of diamond and it can cut glass. Though colorless generally, it can be given any specific color, but retains its translucent characteristics.
Differences From Real Diamonds
Despite their very similar looks, there are differences between the two, physical as well chemical. Diamonds comprise of carbon, whereas zirconia mostly has zirconium oxide. The latter is about 1.7 times heavier than a diamond of the same size.
A natural visual flaw characterizes a real diamond, but cubic zirconia remains flawless. The most important difference is in their price. A diamond weighing one carat costs about $20,000, against $20 for a cubic zirconia.
Main Competitors
Amongst the synthetic gemstone, the cubic zirconia really has one competitor only. Moissanite, discovered in meteorites by French scientist in 1893, subsequently became a very viable substitute for real diamonds.
However, generally it has one or more visual flaws, and is therefore not as attractive as cubic zirconia and easily gets identified as a fake diamond.
Significance
The cubic zirconia appeared in the late 1970s as an affordable substitute for real diamonds and continues to enjoy patronage of people looking for affordable diamonds.
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