How is alpanite different from cubic zirconia?
The magnificence of true precious stones, enchanting shine, a wide range of shades and an affordable price – all this is alpanite! This stone is popularly called rhinestones. It is a synthesized synthetic silicate, whose external qualities fully correspond to such precious minerals as emerald, sapphire, chrysolite, etc. Only a professional jeweler can distinguish a real stone from an alpanite.
Alpanit: what is it?
Alpanite – what is it really and how is a stone with amazing properties synthesized? In short, this is ordinary jewelry glass with the addition of aluminosilicate compounds. Each manufacturer strictly keeps the secret of its composition secret. These stones were first synthesized in the laboratories of the world famous company Swarovski. This happened in the early 90s of the last century, and then this stone was an exact copy of precious minerals. Each grown stone undergoes a full cut, giving it ideal proportions and a mesmerizing shine. The unique properties of the substance make the cutting process quick and inexpensive.
Properties and main characteristics of alpanite
- all products have a clean, even, deep and rich color;
- the low density of the substance allows cutting of any complexity;
- They have a bright, captivating shine;
- resistant to mechanical damage and chips.
All alpanites perfectly transmit rays of light, refracting on the edges and creating an exclusive nebulous effect of the gemstone. Stones are painted in many different colors – red, blue, cyan, green, yellow or purple in different shades.
What is alpanite from an esoteric point of view?
Precious stones are capable of having a positive or negative effect on a person due to the fact that they accumulate certain energy over many centuries of maturation in the bowels of the planet. Alpanit is produced synthetically, so it is incorrect to say that it has healing properties. However, each stone still carries its own energy:
Green the stone is able to absorb negative vibes emanating from the owner or his environment.
Blue color alpanit is recommended to be worn by those who engage in mental work. It stimulates the imagination and gives a positive impetus to creative ideas.
Alpanite, which contains manganese salts, has purple colort. This stone should be worn by those who want to gain confidence in their abilities.
Esotericists do not attribute magical properties to alpanite. The special magic lies in its amazing beauty and amazing play of edges. Another advantage of the stone is its versatility.
Types of alpanites and main shades
Chemical scientists today are able to give alpanite absolutely any color and shade. The saturation and tonality of the color palette of stones directly depends on metal salts and their qualitative and quantitative composition. Crystals are made completely transparent, translucent or completely impervious to light rays. However, in recent years, keeping pace with the fashion for everything natural, chemists have been creating alpanites, which are inserted uncut into jewelry.
Swarovski crystals today are used not only in the creation of costume jewelry and jewelry. Most fashion and interior designers use them to create masterpieces from their collections. This stone is used to decorate rooms, inlay furniture, and decorate interior decorations.
How to recognize a fake stone?
In fact, alpanite is not a precious stone, but due to its unique qualities, it looks rich and very attractive. It is very easy to counterfeit – ordinary bottle glass is ground and cut. To distinguish a fake, just run the stone itself across the surface of the glass. A natural product will leave a scratch on the glass because its density is much higher.
The cubic zirconia stone was artificially created by Soviet scientists in 1970. Physicists developed the materials needed for laser equipment. After numerous experiments, they obtained transparent crystals. The creators named it, based on the abbreviation of the name of the research institute – FIAN (Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences). History of the creation of cubic zirconia cubic zirconia is not a precious stone. Crystals are artificially formed. They are grown from zirconium dioxide. After processing, the stone is difficult to distinguish from a diamond. Not only the appearance is similar, but the physical characteristics are similar. That is why in the USSR for a long time artificial diamonds were called cubic zirconia, without separating the stones.
One day, cubic zirconia came into the possession of enterprising people who decided that it could be cut like a diamond. The result exceeded all expectations. The resulting stones had a playfulness that was even superior to natural diamonds. Such stones began to be exported abroad and sold as first-class gems.
The jewelry world was very surprised when new diamonds began to arrive on the market, although all deposits were operating as usual. They were also surprised by the quality of the stones. Having excellent play and cutting, they were less hard and dense.
Soon the revelation took place, and the whole world learned about the unexpected discovery of Soviet physicists.
Despite the fact that cubic zirconia is an artificially created stone, it has a natural analogue – tazheranite. This is also cubic zirconium dioxide. It can only be orange or brownish in color, and the crystals are so small that they have no jewelry value.
In contrast, cubic zirconia can have a variety of shades. In its pure form, this stone is absolutely transparent. If, at the stage of its cultivation, metals are added to the raw material, this forms a certain color:
- Chrome is green.
- Cerium – red, orange, yellow.
- Erbium – pink.
- Titat is golden.
- Neodymium is purple.
By selecting various combinations of these elements, scientists were able to obtain cubic zirconia in dozens of shades. They can be golden-yellow like citrines and topazes, blue and cyan like sapphires and aquamarines, red like rubies, purple like alexandrites, black like morions and black diamonds. The only shade that could not be reproduced is emerald green. The addition of chromium produced a golden-green stone similar to peridot, but not emerald. Otherwise, cubic zirconia can repeat the colors of almost all precious stones.
But most importantly, this stone has excellent play, which surpasses even a diamond in optical qualities. It is not surprising that it began to be actively used in jewelry.
Initially, cubic zirconia appeared on the market as a fake diamond, but even today you can find such unpleasant surprises. Despite the fact that these stones are similar in appearance, their value is incomparable. Therefore, it is important to know how to distinguish cubic zirconia from a diamond.
Diamond and cubic zirconia have different chemical compositions and structures, which determines many differences from each other. But, for the most part, they are quite weak and implicit, an amateur will not be able to use them.
One of the main differences is hardness. Diamond has the highest – 9 on the Mohs scale, cubic zirconia, although lagging behind, is not much – 7,5-8,5. Thus, they will both scratch the glass equally, while neither sandpaper nor a knife will leave a single mark on them. The only possibility is to try to run a diamond along the edge of the cubic zirconia. If a scratch remains, this is the best confirmation.
Secondly, you need to carefully examine the stone under magnification. A diamond may have large inclusions and other defects, but only if the stone is natural and not lab-grown. Cubic zirconia will always be flawless, but this method does not work well and does not give a confident answer, because even a diamond can be clean.
Another difference is fat wettability. If you apply a smear of oil or any fat on the edge of a diamond, it will not spread and will retain its shape, but on cubic zirconia it will independently disintegrate into small balls. But this method only works with fairly large stones.
The only absolutely accurate method of verification is to measure the thermal conductivity of the stone using a special device. This method will immediately tell you what kind of stone you got, but only specialists have such equipment.
Therefore, if you have purchased a diamond, but have doubts about its naturalness, it is best to have it examined by a specialist. You don’t even have to try to differentiate cubic zirconia from a diamond on your own.
Cubic zirconia can hardly be called a precious stone in full. Many jewelers and gemologists generally treat it with some contempt. On the one hand, it is justified – this stone was not formed over millions of years, but was grown in a short time in a laboratory.
However, cubic zirconia is an ideal stone for creating beautiful jewelry. Inexpensive, accessible, having dozens of shades, beautiful play and high strength, this stone can be used to create a wide variety of jewelry.
Sometimes it is made as similar as possible to natural stones, and rings are made with cubic zirconia of the appropriate type, for example, a gold ring with one round diamond-cut stone. At the same time, sometimes jewelers create bright and colorful compositions from it, which leave no doubt about its artificial origin, but have high decorative qualities.
At the same time, colored stones are used quite often, especially black cubic zirconia. It looks like a black diamond – a stone of incredibly high price, rare and available only to a few. But other colors of cubic zirconia are also used with pleasure in the jewelry industry.
Rings with cubic zirconia, earrings, pendants, pendants, brooches. Perhaps there is no piece of jewelry into which jewelers could not insert this amazing stone.
And let experts debate whether it can be used to create jewelry and compared with other precious stones, we know the truth – cubic zirconia is amazingly beautiful.
The Zlato Jewelry Factory offers you a wide selection of jewelry with cubic zirconia from silver and products with cubic zirconia from gold at affordable prices from the manufacturer. The quality and prices for the entire range of jewelry with cubic zirconia will pleasantly surprise you and make you come back for more.
