The page describes it as YAG-like, but without the Yttrium. I wonder if/how the lack of Yttrium affects the optical properties from an i.d./separation standpoint.
I also wonder how long this stuff has actually been available. Beware largish, exceptionally clean tsavos on eBay....
Well, I don't have the formulas in my head, but isn't synthetic spinel something quite different from natural spinel in chemical formula, although still considered a synthetic?
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Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:27 pm Posts: 764 Location: Western NY
Jung Kee -- by definition, synthetic spinel has the same chemical composition as natural spinel. If it had a different chemical composition, it would be considered a simulant, not a synthetic. (This is true in gemology anyway; other fields may use the words "synthetic" and "simulant" differently.)
Barbra -- That's a good idea. I'll email Rob K. and see what he has to say. I've done business with him before and found him to be quite forthright and reliable.
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Quote:
Well, I don't have the formulas in my head, but isn't synthetic spinel something quite different from natural spinel in chemical formula, although still considered a synthetic
As I understand, the ratios are different in natural vs. synthetic spinel, but the elements present are the same.
Natural spinel is MgAl2O4, which can also be written MgO Al2O3. In synthetic spinel the ratio is MgO to (5)Al2O3.
Last edited by Barbra Voltaire, FGG on Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:27 pm Posts: 764 Location: Western NY
Thanks red dirt -- In digging through Morion's pages a little further, I found this: http://morioncompany.com/NewMaterials.htm Scroll down a little and note that they list the "emerald green" as GGG. I have no idea if it's the same stuff -- but I was surprised as how cloudy it looks in the images they supply.
Barbra -- I'm not a chemist, so I'm way out of my depth here -- but doesn't a different chemical formula mean a different structure and thus a different material? Is "synthetic spinel" more properly a simulant of spinel?
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:20 am Posts: 2756 Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
Barbra Voltaire wrote:
As I understand, the ratios are different in natural vs. synthetic spinel. Natural spinel is MgAl2O4, which can also be written MgOAl2O3. In synthetic spinel the ratio is MgO to (5)Al2O3.
Barbra, which type of syn. spinel are you referencing? Flame-fusion or the flux-grown type?
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:20 am Posts: 2756 Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
pt wrote:
note that they list the "emerald green" as GGG. I have no idea if it's the same stuff -- but I was surprised as how cloudy it looks in the images they supply.
Well gallium and gadolinium certainly aren't yttrium. When you write Rob why don't you ask him what the properties of his new "tsavorite" are? His copy about the stuff seems carefully wiggle-worded.
Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2006 12:44 am Posts: 2056 Location: San Francisco
I live about .25 mile/3 min from Rob's shop. I've gotta get my loup back and i'll ask him about/pickup some of this material when I go over tomorrow. Should be interesting..
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