A Study on Treatments of Sapphires II

Beryllium Diffusion Treatment in Sapphires

Diffusion treatments are mainly carried out when usual heat treatments failed to deliver the desired color to a stone. Since Beryllium Diffusion is comparatively a new technique when it comes to treating sapphires stones, it has grabbed a high deal of controversy in the industry. In general, it has various variations but this process of Diffusion treatment in sapphires primarily involves titanium and beryllium treatments. Here, sapphires are heated close to their melting point with color-inducing elements being there to penetrate or diffuse within the crystal.

Under the titanium diffusion method, a strong coat of color formed around the surface of an imperfectly colored sapphire. Although, as this color layer is created only at the external surface of the stone, the original poor hue of the stone gets uncovered when it is rubbed, nicked, or chipped roughly with a hard object. In the case of newer diffusion techniques, the element beryllium is used because it holds a smaller atomic structure in comparison to titanium and hence penetrates well into the sapphire gem. While beryllium is commonly used to induce orange or golden shade into sapphires, titanium is employed to provide blue color to pale sapphires. 

Sapphires that derive their shade from any of the diffusion treatments are priced relatively lower than natural and untreated sapphires. At the beginning of the 1990s, it was quite tough to detect this treatment into a stone owing to the deeply and uniformly penetrated coloring agent.  Therefore, a large number of such treated sapphires were often mistaken for Natural Padparadschas Sapphires. However, today with the help of the latest technologies and top-notch pieces of equipment, expert gemologists can easily catch any such treatments in sapphire more easily and efficiently.

Radiation Into Sapphires

In order to induce an appealing and well-saturated golden yellow to orange-yellow hue, at times, sapphires are exposed to a controlled amount of radiation. It is generally applied on grayish, faint brown, and pale yellow sapphires. Though their color is not very stable, these gemstones are safe for wearing purposes. In the long run of time, they fade their color quickly under heat or bright light. It is hard to detect such irradiation in sapphire gems even through laboratory testing, but a learned gemologist can skillfully suspect such stones by exposing them to intense heat and light to evaluate any change in the original hue. Be it a yellow sapphire or orange sapphire, if it fades away its original color with sunlight or with ordinary levels of heat, then there are high chances of it being radiated and hence it is measured of limited value in the marketplace.

Buy Certified Sapphires Online 

We at Navratan, the online gem Bazar, work on the principle of quality and integrity. Customer satisfaction is our highest priority and hence, we never misrepresent or seek to exaggerate any of the gemstones we are selling. In order to ensure the originality of the crystal, we provide a certificate of authenticity alongside the stone from renowned gem-testing labs like GRS, GIA, Gubelib, and SSEF. 

                 With the expertise of 82+ years in the industry, our key focus always emphasizes delivering comprehensive disclosure and education about the gemstone they are purchasing. We firmly believe that it is vital to make the consumer aware of the dramatic differences between natural and treated stones so that they can make a more informed decision when buying gemstones online.