The Man Made Diamonds

Sapphire, the blue colored precious stone is derived from mineral called corundum. Ruby, another variety of sapphire is also obtained from the same mineral. Though its most popular known color is blue, you may also get it in other colors like gray, black and orange too. Modern technology has led to the development of man made sapphire or lab sapphires.

As can be expected, mined sapphires are very expensive, value depending on four C’s: color, cut, carat and clarity, where carat refers to its weight. They are grown in different countries. Mined sapphires are used for designing startling pieces of jewelry but they are very costly.

Man made sapphires made by adopting different techniques are akin to natural gemstones. It is believed that Auguste Verneuil was the first to grow synthetic sapphires.

Subsequent technological developments made it possible to produce large quantities of sapphires with the resultant drop in prices, making it affordable for consumers. Geological environments needed for their growth are created in labs to produce lab sapphires.

Producers of man made sapphire not only offer sapphires with their natural characteristics, but also venture to grow new varieties. An average consumer is unable to make the difference between the mined and lab variety of sapphire. Most of the producers of lab sapphires are located in the USA and Japan plus some other countries.

The process developed by Verneuil comprised of preparing a boule from finely ground aluminum oxide by using an inverted oxy-hydrogen torch. Though the technique has been modified over the years, many manufacturers continue to follow the technique developed by the pioneer.

Should you like to buy a piece of jewelry comprising of sapphires, you can search for it online. You’ll find an amazing variety of designs and colors. You will be in awe of some of the rare pieces of man made sapphire in orange color that may be as expensive as the natural ones. You are sure to appreciate the pieces of jewelry that incorporates man made sapphire.

Probably, you’ll find it more beautiful than the one that uses natural stones. Apart from being used for creating beautiful pieces of jewelry, man made sapphires find many other applications. For instance, they are used in watch making industry. Their characteristic hardness makes them useful for many other industries.

Jewelry designers employ a variety of man made sapphires. Yet, the most popular sapphire shape is the star, and manufacturers of synthetic stones try to reproduce these from natural sapphires.

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