Everything You Should Know About Artificial Jewelry

Jan 7, 2023

Jewelry refers to rare minerals and semi-minerals that are hard and have high aesthetic value. It is mainly used as an accessory after processing. Usually, it is a non-metallic inorganic material with a constant chemical composition. Still, there are no strict academic standards, and the key is whether people prefer it.

Artificial jewelry

Artificial jewelry is made by collecting the raw materials that make up the jewelry and processing them at high temperatures and high pressure. Louis Bernoulli of France developed the first industrial method in the late 1800s to synthesize rubies, and the technique of making sapphires was also developed in 1902. Of course, the last thing the synthesis method pioneered was diamonds which had to put a lot of pressure on manufacturing.

Since natural substances are called “minerals,” artificial jewelry made by synthesizing raw materials with human power is usually called fake jewelry in public. However, artificial jewelry is the same as natural jewelry in the United States and other countries. In addition, since the chemical composition of fake jewelry is the same as genuine jewelry, it is almost difficult to distinguish it by an analysis method for determining the type of material. Instead, artificial and straightforward jewelry is characterized by subtle differences in physical properties and unique structures caused by artificial manufacturing processes. Synthetic jewelry is made by dissolving high-purity materials in the laboratory in the first place, so it is characterized by being very clean to the eyes without inclusion. However, the one synthesized by the Bernoulli method has microscopic bubble marks if you look closely. Because natural minerals are scarce, there are cases where only artificially synthesized gems can be found.

Emerald has a variety of ways to make it, but the best one is the hydrothermal growth method. The most common way to make artificial jewelry is the Bernoulli method, to heat the gem material to high temperatures and melt it little by little to grow lumps. In this way, jewelry such as rubies and sapphires are made. Although the manufacturing cost is high, most people can get something similar to natural emeralds. The problem is that the manufacturing cost is so high that the price is not much different from genuine jewelry. Diamond was manufactured by a high temperature and high pressure (HTHP) technique, but it was used for industrial use due to its slight transparency and size. These days, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods are used, and the length and clarity are improved, making it difficult to distinguish them from natural jewelry without a guarantee.

Nowadays, people are figuring out ways to put colored impurities into jewelry with particle accelerators on cheap colorless jewelry. However, it seems that there is little economic feasibility because of the high cost of operating particle accelerators.