How to grow stones at home. Growing gemstones at home

The cultivation of artificial stones is a task that teams of scientists have been struggling with for many years. "Craftsmen" have also long been wondering how to grow a diamond at home. Some have even found ways to get it.

Making artificial diamonds

In nature, diamond is formed under the influence of high temperatures (over 1600 ° C) and high pressure (60-100 thousand atmospheres). Under natural conditions, diamonds are formed for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. Artificial diamonds, in their physical characteristics completely corresponding to natural ones, can be grown in a few months. For this, it is necessary to recreate the natural conditions of their formation.

At home, no one has yet succeeded in creating an apparatus that maintains such a high temperature and the required pressure. But some "masters" share tips on how you can still do this. For example, it is advised to take a thick-walled pipe, graphite and TNT. Then put the TNT and graphite into the pipe and weld it. It is argued that if you blow up TNT and then manage to find the remains of the pipe, then you will find tiny diamonds in them. In practice, the chance of injury is hundreds of times higher than the probability of getting a diamond in this way.

Other "craftsmen" suggest a safer method to create diamonds. All you need is a pencil, a wire, water (preferably liquid nitrogen) and a high voltage source (for example, a welding machine). Take the lead out of the pencil and tie a wire to both ends. Place the lead with the wire in a container with water and freeze (or use liquid nitrogen for this purpose). Take the lead out of the freezer, connect the wires to the welding machine. It is believed that as soon as you pass a strong discharge of current through your structure, the lead will almost instantly turn into a diamond. Of course, this method can be tested for experimental purposes, but you should not seriously count on getting an artificial diamond.

Creation of artificial gems

Unlike diamonds, many other gemstones can be grown at home. To do this, you need to make or buy a Verneuil apparatus and stock up on reagents. To create an artificial ruby, for example, a salt of aluminum dioxide, which has a slight admixture of chromium oxide, is useful. Place it in the burner storage and melt it, watching the "ruby" grow right in front of your eyes in a few hours. Using different salts as reagents, you can get other types of gemstones.

Growing crystals

If you consider the possibility of growing stones as an interesting experience, and not as a way of enrichment, then you can go the other way and grow not stones, but multi-colored crystals from salt, sugar or copper sulfate.

To grow salt crystals, make a saturated solution by adding salt to a glass of warm distilled water until it stops dissolving. To obtain multi-colored crystals, the water can be tinted with food coloring. After that, hang a small crystal of salt over a glass on a string so that it is completely immersed in the solution. The crystal will grow in a few days. Crystals of copper sulfate are grown in the same way.

Puzzled by the search for original business ideas, enterprising citizens are thinking about growing ruby ​​crystals at home as a financially promising occupation. Consider several options for the production of artificial gemstones in an artisanal way.

An original business idea implies a lack of competition in the market. The presence of such a factor directly affects the profitability of production, promising substantial profits to the entrepreneur. Making artificial stones that can be used in jewelry is not a new idea, but due to the laboriousness of the technological process, it is not popular among novice businessmen. And in vain - after all, with a minimum investment, a sales market and, of course, dedication, coupled with patience, you can get a steadily growing income if you invest in production.

To grow ruby ​​crystals at home, you need to use the method of O. Verneuil, a French scientist and naturalist who revolutionized the synthesis of artificial stones more than a century ago by inventing a unique apparatus. Here the future entrepreneur will face a slight difficulty - the equipment is rather complicated. However, modern craftsmen, using the technologies of the XXI century, have significantly simplified the unit. A classic apparatus consists of the following structural elements:

• a device for lowering the crystal;
• holder of the future jewelry;
• muffle;
• burner;
• a bunker with an opening for oxygen supply;
• a device for shaking;
• cathetometer.

Attention! Understanding the device without technical knowledge, at least basic, is quite difficult. It is better to spend a little money and hire an outside specialist to solve this problem.

As for the raw materials, everything is simple. To get a ruby ​​crystal from 20 to 30 carats, which in translation into a metric system that is understandable to everyone will make the weight of an artificial stone from 4 to 6 grams, you will need:

1. Aluminum oxide powder in the amount of 6 g.
2. Chromium oxide - 0.2 g.

The growing process will take no more than 3 hours. It is not difficult to calculate the profitability of the enterprise - the device operates on electricity, "consuming" electricity in the amount of 1 KW per hour (that is, 3 KW will be required). The source material is sold in any specialty store for a penny, in the truest sense of the word, prices. As a result, we get a piece of jewelry, which, even without cutting, will be in high demand. The fact is that not all natural stones, unlike their artificial counterparts, have the purity that jewelers pursue!

Fact! Using the Verneuil method, you can also grow topaz of any shade - blue, white, yellow or transparent.

To make an artificial emerald at home, you should use the hydrothermal method of growing this stone. This method will require purchasing the appropriate equipment - an autoclave that is able to withstand high temperatures and pressures. Here, as in the case of a unit for growing rubies, it is necessary to turn to specialists - in any case, a high-pressure autoclave must be purchased correctly designed and manufactured in an industrial environment.

The very process of growth of emerald crystals occurs as follows:

1. The autoclave heats up gradually.
2. Crushed beryl dissolves in the hot compartment and is used as a seed. The process takes place in an aquatic environment with the addition of vanadium and chromium, which give the natural color to the future stone.
3. As soon as the temperature reaches 600 0 C and the pressure is 1.5 Kbar, the crushed beryl dissolved in the hot compartment is transferred to the cold zone of the autoclave, where it settles layer by layer on the seeds, forming an artificial emerald.

Manufacturing technology takes four weeks. The dimensions of the artificial emerald obtained in this way are limited by the volume of the autoclave. Despite the expensive production process, the return on investment is incredibly high! In addition, using this method, you can grow beryls and sapphires of various shades, as well as aquamarine and ruby.

Fact! The global community of gem traders puts the hydrothermal artificial emerald on a par with its natural counterparts!

Growing Gem Crystals

The above methods may scare off budding entrepreneurs with investment in equipment and the complexity of the technological process. Well, we offer a "penny" and elementary, but long-term option for growing crystals at home. For this you will need:

• salts - copper sulfate, potassium alum, cooking salt, depending on what we want to get in the end;
• chemical solution vessel;
• a filter, which, if there is no laboratory one, can be cotton wool or an ordinary blotter;
• pencil and fishing line.

Now we start the manufacturing process, adhering to the following step-by-step instructions:

1. Pour salt (copper sulfate) into a container with heated distilled water until it stops dissolving.
2. We filter the solution by pouring it into another container and leave it for a day.
3. In 24 hours, excess crystals will settle at the bottom of the container. They will serve as a seed for future artificial stones. We choose the largest and most interesting in shape, tie it to one end of the fishing line, and its other end to a pencil.
4. We hang this structure on a container with a solution in such a way that the seed is completely immersed in it. In the process, the water evaporates, increasing the saturation of the solution. In turn, a part of the substance, which does not have time to evaporate, settles on the seed layer by layer, forming a gemstone crystal.
5. Once every two weeks, it is necessary to raise the level of the solution, since the growing crystal must be constantly and completely immersed in it.

Attention! The temperature of the added solution should correspond to the indicators that the substance possesses with the crystal immersed in it. Otherwise, the process will end without reaching the goal.

In terms of their physical properties and chemical composition, synthetic precious stones practically do not differ from natural ones. Not all items sold in jewelry stores contain natural stones. And this is quite normal. Consider how to open your own ruby ​​crystal growing business at home.

The main problem is that most natural stones do not have all the necessary characteristics to show off in jewelry. Stones obtained in factory or laboratory conditions have almost the same characteristics. In addition, synthetic jewelry production is cheaper than mining natural jewelry in deep and life-threatening mines.

Growing with limited salts

Potassium alum is suitable for this method. It is best to grow copper sulfate crystals at home. They do not grow well from regular salt. But copper sulfate is easy to buy, and very beautiful blue artificial gems grow from it.

1. Preparing the container. We will make a saturated salt solution in it. Pour in a few tablespoons of salt, fill it with water and stir. Add salt until it stops dissolving. Use hot water to ensure correct proportions. There are solubility curves for different salts. They show how many grams can dissolve in 100 ml of water at a certain temperature.

Solubility curves

2. We filter the solution. This step is very important, especially if you are buying copper sulfate from a garden store. If the solution is dirty, the crystal will grow with defects. We leave the solution for a day so that excess crystals fall out of it. They settle at the bottom of the glass and serve as a seed for us (the main elements on which new ones will grow).

3. We tie the crystal to the fishing line. We wrap the fishing line on a pencil and hang this device on a glass with a saturated solution. Over time, the water evaporates, the saturation of the solution increases. Excess substance that cannot be dissolved is deposited on our product.

4. Once every two weeks, add a saturated solution to the glass. Why do this? Over time, the water evaporates and at some point of growth it will not be enough and growth will stop.

Important! The added solution should be at the same temperature as the solution where the crystal grows. If it is the highest, we can ruin everything.

5. After three months we take out the crystal and dry it with a napkin.

6. Cover the product with 1-2 layers of colorless nail polish. This is necessary so that it does not dry out and lose its luster. After drying, the product can be taken by hand.

Here are some wonderful rubies you can grow at home!

I have already published three of my ideas on this site (Stained glass from colored glass, Making mosaic panels and tables, Growing mosaic panels in an incubator). A new idea, which I called "Growing Ruby Crystals at Home", was born similar to idea 1404 in the process of psychological counseling using the techniques I have used to develop creative thinking. It was thanks to these techniques that this new idea was born in co-authorship with another now business partner of mine. I will not describe in detail what problems a young man named Alexander addressed to me (now it does not matter), but the result of our joint work was the birth of this idea for a home business.

At the beginning, I came across information that it turns out that almost all the precious stones that are sold as part of jewelry in our typical jewelry stores are of artificial origin! This does not mean at all that we are being deceived.

In terms of their chemical composition and physical properties, synthetic gemstones are almost completely indistinguishable from natural stones. The whole problem. It turns out that among natural gemstones not all have sufficient purity and other jewelry qualities to be honored to be presented in jewelry stores, and in laboratory or factory production conditions, the technological process can be fine-tuned so that all crystals grown in the laboratory will have almost the same jewelry characteristics.

And in production, they are much cheaper than their "colleagues" of the same quality, mined in deep and dangerous for the life of working mines. In addition, deposits of certain minerals are not scattered in abundance evenly throughout the globe, but are concentrated, as a rule, in a few places.

Then the thought flowed by analogy with stained-glass windows and mosaics. If on the Internet I came across offers for these services from large reputable companies, with solid production areas and cash flow, then, I asked myself a question - why it is impossible to make small stained-glass windows (inserts in interior doors, wall lamps, etc.) literally on your desk?

I studied the technology, wondered how it could be simplified for home use, carried out a certain number of experiments - and got the result!

Likewise, Alexander and I began to creatively rework the idea of ​​growing gem crystals at home. We studied (at an introductory level) different methods, and settled on the method of the French scientist Auguste Verneuil, who created more than 100 years ago an original technique and equipment that made it possible to grow ruby ​​crystals weighing 20-30 carats in 2-3 hours. This was an outstanding achievement of science and technology, not only because it made it possible to artificially produce such a valuable material in the required quantities, but also because it opened up prospects for the synthesis and growth of crystals of other precious stones.

The success of O. Verneuil was preceded by almost half a century of research on the synthesis of ruby.

The simplicity and reliability of the Verneuil method led to the rapid organization of industrial production of these crystals, first in France, and later in practically all highly developed countries of the world.

The first figure shows the very principle of operation of the Verneuil method (doesn't it - everything looks pretty simple!), And the second figure shows the Verneuil apparatus.

Verneuil apparatus for growing ruby ​​crystals at home

It looks quite difficult, even at first it makes me feel a little afraid - they say, I would never do this! But these are false fears. After all, it should be remembered once again that the inventor created his technology more than 100 years ago!

Naturally, he did not have at his disposal those electrical and mechanical "tricks" that are available to any home craftsman at the present time!

We started working on this problem - how to simplify the Verneuil apparatus through the use of modern electrical components and mechanisms of wide availability and create a "kitchen" version of the apparatus.

And we did it!

Using the Verneuil method, you can grow crystals of not only ruby, but also blue, white (transparent) and yellow topaz (as well as other shades if desired).

I publish a detailed description of the "kitchen" version (with Alexander's consent) as the main generator of the idea and am not at all afraid of competition from those enthusiasts who decide to follow this idea. The reason is very simple: at present, artificial precious crystals are grown in many countries of the world, but as soon as you go to a jewelry store, it becomes immediately obvious that prices are still “biting”. And it seems that the market is still very, very far from saturation. And if even after reading this information there are several thousand enthusiasts, then with our “home” production we all cannot make any special “weather” in this market segment. Therefore, the results of our research can be published without fear. On the contrary, if something like the "Association of Domestic Crystal Growers" appears on the network :-), then it will be even more interesting and useful for everyone, since, as you know, two heads are good, and two thousand, we can confidently assume, are much better. And some of these heads may turn out to be much lighter, and their ideas will help everyone who is interested to further simplify and improve the apparatus, and turn it from “kitchen”, for example, into “nightstand” :-).

Now a few words about the economic efficiency of the project. It takes 3 hours to grow a ruby ​​crystal weighing 20-30 carats (4-6 grams!) And about 3 kWh of electricity. Calculate how much it costs in your area. Think. that the figure is less than 10 rubles. The cost of 6 grams of aluminum oxide powder and 0.2 grams of chromium oxide in general cannot cost more than 50 kopecks.

So if you, dear reader, offer even a rough ruby ​​crystal to an interested jeweler, then you don't need to have a Soros head to understand that the profit from the deal will be quite solid. Well, if one of the handmade men with rubies and topaz makes his own wife or girlfriend happy, then the psychological dividends from such "investments" cannot be counted at all! :-).

A few more words about the legal legality of such proceedings. Of course, it is still necessary to thoroughly consult with lawyers, but the law of the Russian Federation "On PRECIOUS METALS AND PRECIOUS STONES" (last amendment of 18.07.2005 N 90-FZ) I have reviewed, says very specifically that the subject of regulation of this law is "precious stones - natural diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and alexandrites, as well as natural pearls in raw (natural) and processed form. Unique amber formations are equated to precious stones in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation. This list of precious stones can only be changed by federal law. " I specially highlighted the word - "natural". And nothing is said about synthetic ones.

So grow ruby ​​crystals at home in peace.

Values ​​7

There are many myths around jewelry with synthesized, that is, artificially grown stones and jewelry with imitation inserts. It's time to part with these delusions!

Subtleties of classification

Gemstones, created not by nature, but by man, can be divided into synthetic (synthesized) and imitations. The first ones have a natural, real-life analogue and completely coincide with it in color, composition, hardness and other physicochemical properties. For example, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires are natural and synthetic. Laboratory grown stones gain commercially attractive weight in a matter of months, whereas in nature this process lasts for centuries.

The term "synthetic" in relation to precious stones "from a test tube" is considered unsuccessful in the jewelry environment, since consumers associate it with imitation and even fake. Jewelry with such stones, of course, has a more affordable price than with nuggets obtained in mines and mines, but they cannot be called glass. By law, the manufacturer is obliged to indicate on the product label information that the stone is artificially grown. It is possible to distinguish synthesized stones from natural ones with the help of an examination in a gemological center, but not by eye.

Imitations are made from glass, minerals, metals, ceramics, and plastic. They have no natural analogue, since they were “invented” in laboratory conditions. So, neither Swarovski crystals nor cubic zirconia have a similarity in nature, although they look like rock crystal and even diamonds. Imitating jewelry inserts are used in the manufacture of jewelry and accessories (watches), less often in jewelry.

Synthesized stones: a bit of history

The first synthetic stone - a 10-carat ruby ​​- was obtained in 1891 by the French mineralogist Auguste Verneuil. Using the Verneuil method, it became possible to grow crystals suitable for jewelry use, and in 1910, synthetic sapphire was obtained in a similar way. The artificial emerald, identical to the natural one, was first grown in 1935.

But with the best friends of girls - diamonds - it's not so simple. In 1954, in the laboratory of the American company General Electric, the first artificial diamond "matured", whose growth cycle could be repeated on an industrial scale. But it was a mineral of technical value, not jewelry. Nowadays, millions of carats of diamonds and diamond chips are annually produced in the world for the needs of manufacturers of various devices, devices, tools.

Gem-quality artificial diamonds were obtained by Herbert Strong and Robert Wentorf (both from General Electric) in 1970, but analogues have not been able to flood the jewelry market today. The process of growing a king of stones is long, complex and costly compared to other laboratory-grade gems. A diamond cut from a synthetic crystal can cost from 50% to 90% of the price of a natural nugget similar in weight and processing, or even exceed it in cost. According to scientists, this direction is the future, but so far there is no need to fear that real diamonds in jewelry will be replaced by grown ones.

Simulation inserts: a bit of history

The most popular imitations of precious and semi-precious stones in jewelry are cubic zirconia and Swarovski crystals (rhinestones). Remember, cubic zirconia is not an artificial diamond! It does not contain the main element for diamonds - carbon, but zirconium oxide is present. Cubic zirconia was obtained in the mid-1960s by scientists from the P.I. Lebedev Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (FIAN), after which it is named.

In the 18th century, Georg Strass, a glassmaker and jeweler with German roots, who lived in Alsace, France, invented diamonds using cut lead glass. The surname of the master became the name of his invention: spectacular inserts were named "rhinestones". A century later, the ideas of Strasse were developed by Daniel Swarovski, a hereditary cutter of Bohemian crystal. He improved the composition of the rhinestones, the quality of grinding and the durability of the spraying, so that the beauty of the cut, transparency, play of light and brilliance were not inferior to diamonds. In 1895, in Austria, Daniel founded the Swarovski company to sell his products to the whole world and primarily to fashion designers in Paris. The work of the talented cutter, inventor of the first electric cutting machine (1892), thanks to the works of his descendants, is still flourishing. Swarovski crystals (rhinestones) have 12 facets, are made of high quality crystal (glass with 32% lead oxide content) with the addition of powder of synthetic and natural stones of gem value.

Why are synthetic stones and imitations needed?

First of all, “substitutes” for precious stones are good because they make jewelry more affordable. Buying a ring with an artificially grown emerald without spending too much for your own budget or saving money for several months for the beauty created by nature is everyone's personal choice. And those who do not need to save up for the purchase of jewelry masterpieces prefer to wear inexpensive copies of jewelry outside the red carpet and gala dinners. An example is provided by Beyoncé, whose engagement ring with an 18-carat diamond is estimated at $ 5 million: for every day, the singer has a copy of this ring, which costs 1,000 times less - $ 5,000.

Also, the "alternative to luxury" fits into the global ecotrend - concern for the preservation of the environment, because the deposits of some precious stones these days are close to depletion.

And, finally, it is much easier for a grown stone to obtain ideal characteristics in terms of carat weight, color, light refraction, absence of any defects - inclusions, microcracks, and so on. There are laboratory centers for the production of synthetic stones in Russia, China, India, USA, Sweden and other countries of the world.

Since then, as people understood the nature of precious stones, learned their composition and discovered the conditions of education, they strive to become like nature and reproduce stones with their own hands with the help of more and more new knowledge and technologies, and today they successfully succeed. Now people are able to make very many types of jewelry and jewelry and ornamental stones, which could not but affect the attitude towards minerals and prices, although the reason for the production of most stones is primarily the requirements of the industry, and only secondly - the demands of the jewelry market. However, the passions around natural minerals and their artificially grown analogues do not subside: there are lovers of natural stones who consider the grown stones to be something fake, a kind of surrogate, and there are those who like any mineral, whether it is grown by man or nature.

In order not to get confused, you should immediately decide: there are imitations, but there are synthetic analogs of natural stones. Imitation- This is a material similar to natural stones in appearance and in some properties; imitations can be both artificially created minerals and natural, natural, as well as materials that have nothing to do with minerals (glass, plastics, etc.) or are combinations of all these materials. For example, natural colorless zircon, artificial cubic zirconia (which is often called zirconium in the trade), and simple glass, which does not even have a crystalline structure, can serve as imitations of a colorless diamond. If the seller passes off these materials as a diamond, they can be considered fakes. Synthetic analog- a mineral created by man, that is, artificially grown (for example, a synthetic diamond). Its characteristics correspond to the chemical composition, physical and optical properties of a diamond, and sometimes even surpass them, and its origin can be established only in a gemological laboratory, and with some stones it is difficult - they are so close to natural ones. In the catalog of the "Gems Gallery" you can see jewelry, in the descriptions of which the definitions "synthesized ruby", "synthesized opal", etc. are used. - these are the grown stones.

Perhaps, it cannot be attributed to one or the other category. refined materials- natural minerals, which have improved (in fact, changed) texture and / or color. This can be done by heating, X-ray irradiation, impregnation with resins, polymers, dyes, etc. For example, fortified turquoise is a natural, but very loose and soft turquoise, unsuitable in this form for inserts into jewelry, which is strengthened by impregnation with special resins and sometimes dyes. It is clear that in this form, turquoise can no longer be considered completely natural, natural.

This article will focus only on man-grown stones - we will look at some artificially created stones used for inserts into jewelry. Diamond

“I knew it would take ten or even twenty years, which could take away from a person all his strength, all his energy, but even then the game was worth the candle,” said the hero of HG Wells's story “The Man Who Made Diamonds ". Usually, the synthesis of crystals of minerals is associated with their demand in industry, in their application in high-tech technologies, but the stone itself attracts people, and the ability to repeat nature - even more so. diamond was one of the first such minerals. The first attempts to obtain diamonds were registered at the end of the 19th century, but they were unsuccessful. For the first time artificial diamonds were synthesized in Sweden and the USA in 1954 (General Electric company), and officially six years later - in the USSR. However, back in 1939, professor-physicist Ovsey Ilyich Leipunsky from the Institute of Chemical Physics described a method for producing diamonds, which involved the use of high pressures and temperatures of 1500-3000 degrees. Under these conditions, the loose crystal lattice of graphite can transform into a dense packing of the diamond structure. Such conditions were technically impossible at that time, but Leipunsky's works were studied by many specialists, including the Swedes; they later used the method described by O. I. Leypunsky: pressure, temperature, as well as the addition of iron and some other materials to graphite. This facilitates the synthesis process, carbon becomes mobile and forms the diamond lattice faster. The sizes of crystals obtained at that time did not exceed only 0.8 mm, therefore they were used as abrasives. Large diamond crystals learned to synthesize later, this procedure is much more complicated and expensive. It is especially costly to synthesize large, more than one carat, and precisely colorless diamond crystals, therefore their mass production is impossible, and the market contains mainly stones weighing one carat or less.

One of the world's largest producers of synthetic diamonds and polished diamonds, the Belarusian enterprise "Adamas BSU", uses the BARS method (pressless apparatus "Razreznaya Sphera") here. The basic technology based on this method was developed back in the USSR at the very beginning of the nineties; the technology stands for "a method of crystallization of diamond from a carbon solution under conditions of a temperature gradient in a metal melt based on iron and nickel using high pressures." It will take about a hundred hours to synthesize a diamond weighing one carat in the BARS apparatus, which will amount to six cycles per month, that is, six carats. Unfortunately, only mass production of bright yellow crystals is possible. Russia also has similar installations, but they do not work for the jewelry market. "Adamas BSU" produces both technical raw materials and materials for the jewelry industry, and the share of the latter is steadily growing. This is due to a combination of reasons: a decrease in the production of natural diamonds, a constant increase in demand for polished diamonds, the decision of leading gemological laboratories, for example, the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) to accept synthetic diamonds for certification, the development of technology that makes it possible to obtain crystals of ever larger size and more and more fancy colors while reducing the amount of "blank" synthesis. The market is gradually getting used to synthetic diamonds, and Belarus even adopted a special national program for the development of synthetic diamonds production. However, there is no need to talk about cheap diamond jewelry yet. Corundum (sapphire, ruby)

Some of the most outstanding achievements of science and technology, as a rule, are marked by the use of crystals of minerals, their unique properties: optical, piezoelectric, semiconductor and others. The very first corundums in Russia were also originally synthesized for the purpose of using them in science: in precision instrument making, the watch industry, etc. In 1936, the first installation in Russia for growing corundum was put into operation, and soon a permanent production was established. The first industrial method for obtaining corundum (as well as spinel) and still the most widespread is the Verneuil method.

The French chemist Auguste Verneuil began his experiments on growing minerals at the end of the 19th century, but 1905 is considered the official year of birth of the first synthetic Corundum. The method, in short, is as follows: alumina powder is fed together with oxygen into a burner fire, which, in turn, is fed with hydrogen. A hydrogen-oxygen flame of about 2050 degrees melts the powder, and the melt flows down onto the prepared crystal carrier. When solidified, the melt does not form a mineral crystal in the usual sense, but a so-called mineral bule - a round-shaped rod. Today it is possible to grow boules up to 5-8 cm in length and 2 cm in circumference (40-45 grams = 200-250 carats) in just a few hours. To obtain red corundum (ruby), add chromium oxide to the alumina powder; blue (sapphire) - add iron oxide and titanium. Nickel will stain Corundum yellow. Star Rubies and Sapphires can also be grown. A similar method has been obtained since the 1920s. spinel; for this, magnesium oxide and aluminum oxide are used. Spinels usually give a sapphire blue, beautiful aquamarine or green coloration. "Gallery of Gems" can offer jewelry lovers of precious stones jewelry with synthetic ruby ​​and high quality sapphire.

Two hundred tons of synthetic corundum and spinel are produced annually all over the world for various needs. Faceted, they are indistinguishable without special equipment from natural gemstones and are gaining more and more space under the sun. But can they finally replace natural rubies and sapphires? Alexandrite

Alexandrite is a type of chryso beryl. This rare and very expensive stone is classified as precious and has a unique effect: in daylight it is green, and in artificial light it turns red. The closest imitation of Alexandrite in properties and at the same time the most inexpensive is the same Corundum, only with the addition of vanadium and titanium in the synthesis process, which gives the stone an Alexandrite effect with an intense reverse from a weak bluish-greenish-gray to a deep red-violet, amethyst color. Synthetic alexandrite itself is also grown; it is the most expensive synthetic analogue after diamond. Information on the successful synthesis of an analogue of chryso beryl, alexandrite, dates back to the second half of the 19th century.

In the USA, in 1964, an industrial method of obtaining alexandrite was tested, and since 1972 the company "Creative Crystals" (Saint-Ramon, Danville, California) has been growing Alexandrite crystals by the flux method from a solution. A solution of beryllium and aluminum oxides, when cooled, serves as a "nutrient medium" for Alexandrite crystals, which grow from seven to nine weeks. In this way, the most beautiful crystals of alexandrite are obtained, which are difficult to distinguish from the famous Ural gems, which once made the glory of Russian gems. The Japanese, on the other hand, produce Alexandrite by the Czochralski method (pulling the crystal out of the melt) and call their product "inamori" and "kresent-vert": it also has the effect of a cat's eye, and its color changes from greenish-yellow in daylight to red-violet when artificial ...

In Russia, alexandrite has been grown since 1980 in Novosibirsk, at the Design and Technology Institute of Single Crystals. It goes for both technical and jewelry purposes; some crystals weigh half a kilogram. Although the synthetic analogue corresponds to natural alexandrite both in chemical formula and in most properties, natural alexandrite remains unsurpassed in beauty. It looks great in gold, as, for example, in the turquoise earrings from the Gems Gallery collection.

Natural Alexandrite (like any other natural stone) has inclusions, cracks and other defects that are invisible to the eye, which do not reduce the aesthetic effect, but very much interfere with the use of crystals in precision instrument making, in particular, in Alexandrite lasers in medical cosmetology and eye microsurgery, therefore synthetic stones, which do not have defects and have all the desired properties, are ideally suited for these purposes. Emerald

Modern technologies make it possible to grow defect-free and large enough Emerald crystals, which is very rare for natural ones. By and large, grown Emeralds are no different from natural ones, except that they are too perfect. Synthetic Emeralds were obtained even before World War II, after which research in this area resumed with renewed vigor. Americans from the Chatham company were among the first to establish industrial synthesis of synthetic Emeralds from solutions in a melt. Of course, in the USSR, it was decided to create Emeralds, only by "our" method, using a new technology. Now this technology, created in the 1970s by Novosibirsk scientists, is known all over the world, and the Emeralds created with its help are called Russian Emeralds. We are still ahead of the rest of the planet: the Tyrus company, which was founded in 1989 on the basis of the Joint Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, by the same Siberian creators of Emeralds, is the market leader in artificial gemstones. Only in "Tyrus" and nowhere else in the world is another variety of beryl grown besides Emerald - aquamarine. For the synthesis of stones, a method is used that is closest to the natural one - hydrothermal, in an autoclave, using high pressures and temperatures. The process, by and large, is no different, and instead of thousands of years, only two or three months pass.

However, for growing stones, autoclaves, melts and high temperatures are not enough; talent, intuition, and much more are needed, which can be called a gift to do just this business. After all, if you select the optimal composition of the charge (a mixture that will serve as material for the growth of crystals) simply by experience, your whole life will go away, and even knowledge will not always help, rather, a set of qualities that make a person a Creator. Garnet

Garnets are crystals with ideal properties for use in lasers; they began to grow in order to obtain defect-free samples of the desired properties. Almost by accident, they came to be used in the jewelry industry. In the 1960s, the first samples were obtained in the United States, and by the end of the sixties, synthetic Garnets entered the jewelry market. Unlike natural ones, synthetic Garnets can be colorless. This is another illustration to the question of grown and natural stones, the perfection of the former and the imperfection of the latter: an ideal pyrope in nature should have been colorless, but because of the "extra" impurities of iron, it is as we know it - fiery red, and not is different.

Synthetic Garnets (Garnets) are yttrium-aluminum (YAG), gadolinium-gallium (GGG), and yttrium-ferruginous (IIG). Colorless and colored yttrium-aluminum garnets with high hardness (8.5 on the Mohs scale) and a good refractive index, which gives them shine and strong play, turned out to be the most suitable for inserts into jewelry, both in terms of physical and optical properties and economically. YAG is grown in various ways, mainly by the Czochralski method, which gives large crystals that lend themselves well to polishing.

Colorless Garnets are sometimes substituted for diamonds. Even in London, which is famous for its conservatism with regard to jewelry, synthetic Garnets began to be sold in the early seventies as adequate substitutes for diamonds. This, in particular, was facilitated by the famous actress Elizabeth Taylor and the sensational story with her pear-shaped diamond. In 1969, Richard Burton (who starred with Taylor in "Cleopatra" and married her twice) gave her a pear-shaped diamond weighing 69.42 carats. The actress usually wore this beautiful natural stone as a pendant, but insurance for one evening cost a thousand dollars. Then Taylor ordered a copy of a synthetic Garnet diamond, close to diamond in properties, for three and a half thousand dollars. It was not difficult to distinguish the copy when it was lying next to the diamond, but individually it could only be done by an expert. And so it happened that fear of robbers, and maybe even of insurers, contributed to the popularity of synthetic Garnets in general. In the catalog of the "Gallery of Gems" there is a silver ring with fiery red synthetic Garnets that can outshine even small natural rubies. Quartz (rock crystal, amethyst, citrine, ametrine)

The production of Quartz in comparison with the same diamonds or Emeralds does not cause much difficulty. It is grown hydrothermally in steel autoclaves; the growth rate of crystals is up to 0.5 mm per day. Synthetic Quartz can be given any shade, both imitating natural and fantasy, which is not found in nature. For example, bright blue Quartz is made by adding cobalt; iron provides citrine color; the more it is, the brighter the color, to orange-red. Black morion can be grown by increasing the concentration of aluminum, and rauch topaz - smoky quartz - is also obtained. One of the most popular varieties of Quartz - amethyst - is obtained after ionizing radiation of synthetic smoky Quartz. It is extremely difficult to distinguish it from natural, which is why it is very popular. Synthetic amethyst is most often very bright and clean, without defects and irregularities, uniform deep color; The stones can be very large, but sometimes their color changes under sunlight and artificial light, demonstrating a kind of Alexandrite effect. amethyst brushes are grown in our suburbs, but as long as there are inexpensive African raw materials, there is no need for mass production of amethyst and amethyst brushes. ametrine (amethyst-citrine), a polychrome mineral with two zones of color - purple and yellow - was first found in Bolivia, so its second name is bolivianite. But you can grow ametrine artificially; it will cost an order of magnitude lower, and the owner will enjoy no less than the natural one, which, by the way, in faceted form can be found in the collection of precious stones and crystals of the "Gallery of Gems". Opal

Synthetic opal, albeit with a stretch, can be called an actual opal: it also has a layered structure, different colors and a play of colors, for example, white opals with multi-colored flashes, cut in the form of pearls and adorned the ring from the catalog of the "Gallery of Gems". Like natural opal, synthesized opal also consists of silicon layers. For a very long time it was believed that opal could not be obtained artificially; the study of the structure of this amazing mineral nevertheless made it possible to understand that synthesis is possible. The first patent for the manufacture of noble opal was received by Australian mineralogists A. Gaskin and P. Darre, and in 1973 the Swiss jewelry firm Pierre Gilson began selling a wide variety of noble synthetic opals, which were in no way inferior in color and strength of opalescence to natural stones.

High-quality synthetic opals are also made in Russia. Even when comparing natural and artificial opal, it is difficult to understand which of them appeared in the laboratory. In addition, natural noble opal is very expensive, especially black, and incredibly capricious in storage and wearing, and grown stones allow you not to be afraid of any accidents. Turquoise

The aforementioned company of Pierre Gilson in the aforementioned 1972 also received an artificial turquoise, the closest to natural of all previously obtained, and therefore suitable for inserts into jewelry. Such turquoise is very uniform, has a wonderful turquoise color, and cabochons made of such a material are difficult to distinguish from natural ones, even in a professional laboratory. All indicators (density, hardness, etc.) coincide, and even the best Iranian turquoise in the world is indistinguishable from artificial. In Russia, both homogeneous blue and spiderweb turquoise are obtained, with a pattern of dark veins. You can try comparing natural turquoise beads and a gold ring with synthesized turquoise from the Gems Gallery collection to see how similar the materials are. Pearl

Pearls have a special position among minerals: firstly, it is a mineral of organic origin, and secondly, artificial, or cultured, pearls, in fact, differ from natural ones only in that they grow in the shell of a mollusk under human supervision. Back in the 19th century, the Chinese and Japanese began to cultivate pearls, therefore it was in the East that a special attitude towards such pearls developed and their own pearl traditions developed. The molluscs that are able to grow a pearl in their mantle are Pinctada Martensi, Pinctada Maxima, and Pinctada Margaritifera, which grow up to thirty centimeters in diameter. This latter gives Black, Gray, Bluish, Green and Bronze Pearls.

The method of obtaining pearls is quite simple: the pearl shell is first grown in more fresh than sea water, in special fenced off areas to avoid attacks by predators; then, three years later, a ball of natural mother-of-pearl (or a piece of mantle) is placed inside the shells; further pearl mussels grow from one and a half to eight years (on average, two to three years) in more salty water further from the coast. They are protected and looked after. The whole world is famous for the Japanese cultured Akoya pearls, which have excellent luster and various shades. This is a classic of cultured Pearls. Akoya pearls are produced not only in Japan, but also in Korea, China and Sri Lanka and can be white, yellow, pink, silver, champagne, green, cream.

It is possible to diagnose cultured pearls using ultraviolet rays: it will emit a greenish light, while natural pearls will emit blue. "Gallery of Gems" offers several shades of Pearls: white (classic beads of 45 cm, ideal for a round and high neck line of clothing), cream (earrings), gray (rings), collections are constantly replenished with new models with different colors.

It is interesting that in Russia there were attempts to grow pearls: the Stroganov merchants, back in the 17th century, set up experiments in Solvychegodsk, where a pond called Pearl was preserved. Cheslav Chmielewski grew pearls up to 5 mm in diameter in the east of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. And the victory is awarded ...

As it turns out, there are not so many synthetic analogs of jewelry stones; hardly two dozen, but this is quite enough for the jewelry market, especially since there are much more imitations of stones, and they are also successfully sold, however, the buyer is not always aware of this. And it is much more pleasant to buy a ruby, albeit synthetic, than a "sandwich" made of glass, Quartz and colored glue, and even more expensive. Natural stones will, of course, never lose their buyer; they are valuable because each of them is unique and has been growing for hundreds, millions of years. All impurities, defects, inclusions and heterogeneities only add individuality to them, which explains, in the end, their attractiveness and desire to admire them. But many of them, as a rule, are the most beautiful, difficult to obtain, and even more difficult to buy: the price for the love of beauty is too high. In this respect, we can be grateful to the grown stones: flawless, they invariably follow one goal - to be even better, even more beautiful.

In the modern jewelry industry, various methods of synthesizing precious stones and growing jewelry crystals have been successfully developed. All of them are tied to the phase state and composition of the medium. In a very general way, it can be said that crystals are grown from:

• melts (pure substance)
• solutions
• gas environment

The synthesis process can proceed both as a result of the transformation of the initial solid phase, and by the formation of a solid phase from liquid and gaseous. The most famous crystal synthesis methods are

• melt (methods of Verneuil, Czochralski, zone and skull melting)
• solution-melt (methods of flux, hydrothermal synthesis and synthesis of gem-quality diamonds at high pressures)

Gemological Center Faculty of Geology, Moscow State University, on its website, provides a detailed description of the process and technologies for the synthesis of jewelry stones.

In general, we can say that the basis for obtaining synthetic jewelry crystals is the processes crystallization, which, to one degree or another, we all studied at school in chemistry lessons. In fact, these are heterogeneous chemical reactions in which single crystals or their polycrystalline aggregates are formed.

The crystallization process consists of two key stages: first, the "center of the crystal" is formed, then further growth occurs.

How does a gemstone crystal grow?

The crystal has a spatial lattice, which "overgrows" layer by layer with the atoms of a supersaturated solution. The crystal growth rate is regulated by the temperature of the medium, pressure, and the rate of solution supply. If the growth rate is low, so-called “growth zoning” (similar to straight or curved lines) can form inside the crystal. In crystals with a rich color, zoning can be color (that is, some faces will take on more impurities than others).

In addition, liquid and solid inclusions can "settle" on the crystal faces. The quality of a grown crystal often depends on the speed of its growth. Slow growth is more in line with the natural pace. With a fast stimulated growth, more inclusions remain on the faces, and the crystal can lose transparency.

Industrial methods of growing gemstones

The era of industrial synthesis of precious and other jewelry stones was discovered in 1896 by a French scientist Auguste Verneuil... It was he who designed the first furnace with a burner based on oxygen and hydrogen, in which he received the first artificial ruby. Below in the table you can see a list of the most famous and used methods of growing stones. Stones of the same type, obtained by different methods, may have some differences.

It is important to note that in addition to growing single crystals, there are methods for synthesizing polycrystalline structures that make up such stones as turquoise and malachite. Their own rather complex methods are also used to obtain a noble opal, which has a unique color effect (iridescence). Most of these methods are trade secrets of the developers.

ALL STONES: CATALOG

JEWELRY STONES: REFERENCE

SYNTHETIC JEWELRY

Types of stones by origin (natural, imitation, synthesized, refined)

What determines the value of gemstones?

How to determine - a synthetic gemstone or natural?

Imitation of natural stones and its methods

Refining of precious stones

Cubic zirconias, rhinestones, Swarovski crystals

Jewelry has always been loved and revered by both women and men. At all times, the presence of jewelry, their originality and value determined the position of a person in society, emphasized his status and wealth. This is explained by the high price of precious stones and jewelry, which only increases over the years. A grandson can sell great-grandmother's diamonds for fabulous money, provided that they are real, i.e. are of natural origin.

Most people in our country sincerely believe that precious (semi-precious) stones are set in all jewelry made of gold. This is the difference between real values ​​and jewelry, the destiny of which is to shine with faceted glass. However, everything is not so simple. Already two centuries ago, scientists outwitted Mother Nature and learned how to create imitation of precious stones - their synthetic counterparts.

"Glass" or "stone"?

The process of growing stones in laboratory and production conditions is rather complicated and laborious, therefore, such stones cannot be called glass, but, alas, they also have no right to bear the name “precious stones”.

The history of the creation of artificial gemstones

The desire to obtain gold and precious stones from scrap materials has been inherent in humanity for a long time. Dreams of gratuitous wealth are reflected in fairy tales and legends, in which a person suddenly got the opportunity to turn any objects around him into gold. And despite the fact that such stories never ended with anything good, the thirst to match nature in opportunities and get alchemical stones in the laboratory did not leave the mind and heart of scientists.

Successful attempts are not always honest: the history of artificial stones began in the eighteenth century, when the Austrian Georg Friedrich Strass found a way to sell glass under the guise of noble diamonds. On the banks of the Rhine River, Strass discovered pieces of minerals that, under certain lighting conditions, looked like diamonds. By processing, cutting and introducing lead salts into the glass, artificial stones were obtained, very similar to real ones, which were sold by a skilled businessman as precious. In order to make the "jewels" shine more strongly, the finest metal spraying was applied to their surface. The great strategist was not only not punished for selling counterfeit stones, but, on the contrary, he was granted the title of jeweler in the king's palace, and glass jewelry was named in his honor - rhinestones.

Today, the most famous rhinestones in the world are called "Swarovski Crystals". It is very symbolic that they are made in the homeland of Strass - in Austria. The main materials for the manufacture of Swarovski Crystals are crystal, synthetic and precious stones of natural origin, so they have a fairly high cost.

As for the stones, the first stone, grown by man, like an exotic flower, was revealed to the public back in 1891. Before that, repeated attempts were made to grow stones. However, the results had such microscopic dimensions that it was not necessary to speak of their use in industry (for example, in jewelry). The "Siamese" stones, which were obtained by alloying fragments of stones of natural origin, were not successful either.

The artificial ruby, obtained in the laboratory, reached ten carats, and was created by the Frenchman Auguste Verneuil. All the equipment for obtaining stones was invented by him and made it possible to obtain pure synthetic rubies two to three times larger than the sample obtained in a few hours. Moreover, unlike natural stones, they had no inclusions or defects, were clean and transparent. A year later, the same scientist obtained the first corundum of synthetic origin. The raw material for it was purified aluminum oxide.

Ten years after the first success, the research was completed, and the equipment for growing synthetic stones was successfully introduced into production. Verneuil's method turned out to be simple and reliable, it made it possible to grow rubies of the required size and pushed scientists to create other synthetic stones.

The twentieth century picked up the baton, additional methods for growing stones "in test tubes" were discovered. Their assortment expanded, and such stones became very popular with jewelers, because at a lower cost it was possible to get a larger stone and purity unprecedented for natural gemstones.

In the Soviet Union in the middle of the last century, synthetic stones were in great demand, they can be found in many jewelry of that era: bright red, glowing rubies and blue transparent sapphires, grown using the method proposed by a French scientist. Besides them, other synthetic stones are known: alexandrite, emerald, quartz and diamond. And the cubic zirconia, which is often found beloved by ladies, imitating a diamond, has no analogues in nature at all - it is 100% the merit of scientists.

How to distinguish a gem

An ordinary man in the street, neither at first glance, nor at the second, nor even at the third, will not be able to recognize himself which stone is set in a frame - synthetic or precious (stones of purely natural origin are called precious, after all). In the EU countries and in the USA, the rights of buyers are very strictly observed, and the product tag necessarily contains information about the origin of the stone. If the stone is inherited and there is no data about it, except for family legends, then it is worth contacting a serious jewelry workshop or laboratory for a comprehensive analysis. With the help of special equipment, specialists will be able to answer your question. But even if the stone is not natural, but synthetic - do not rush to get upset, it still cannot be considered glass, suitable only for cheap jewelry. Synthetic stones make it possible to make the cost of products cheaper, they allow more economical use of minerals - diamonds, deposits of precious stones and, who knows, maybe after some fifty or a hundred years, our descendants will seriously concern themselves with the preservation of nature, ecology, and the earth's interior, and synthetic stones will be at a huge price and trending.