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 Post subject: Synthetic Tsavorite
PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:25 pm 
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Check this out:

http://www.facetingrough.com/rough_synt ... rite.shtml

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....

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:31 pm 
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Curious.
Of course to be a synthetic tsavorite it must be chemically:Ca3 Al2 Si3 O12.

If it is anything else, it is an artificial product.
Does anyone want to research with facetingrough.com and ask them?


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:34 pm 
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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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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:59 pm 
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Here's a company that sells lab grown garnet.
http://morioncompany.com/Yttrium.htm


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:00 pm 
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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.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:04 pm 
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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.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:14 pm 
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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?

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:15 pm 
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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?

Rick Martin


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:16 pm 
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flame fusion

The structure is closely related to sapphire, but with a closely packed arrangement of O layers, producing a cubic crystal.

"Synthetic" spinel was stumbled upon while experimenting with flame fusion synthetic sapphire.


Last edited by Barbra Voltaire, FGG on Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:23 pm 
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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.

Rick Martin


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 Post subject: color-write
PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:51 am 
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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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PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:21 pm 
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You only have one loupe? :shock:


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 Post subject: Tanzanion
PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:27 pm 
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PT:

Thanks for the link on Tanzanite and Tanznion. :)

I have copied the stats on the two "gems " to my "book" :) Now I can test for the artificial if I see it.

The "book" eventually gets copied to a "flash card" that goes into a rolidex.
:D
As on gets ah .. more mature ... one needs memory aids lol

Thanks again

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 Post subject: the loup
PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:34 pm 
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it's one of those 30mm diameter or so Schneider loupes... I kinda like it.. cause it's big... here's the link...

http://www.kassoy.com/ls10.html

I have others, but kinda like looking through a straw after that one..


Last edited by jleb on Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:55 pm 
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Actually Wolf, that sounds like a pretty good idea. What info. actually makes it to one of your index cards? How do you organize them?

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Last edited by Peter Torraca on Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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