Loose cubic zirconia and lab created gems are created in the laboratory using two basic methods, either melt growth or solution growth. Melt growth is inexpensive but creates very low quality crystals. Melt growth is used to create the cheap synthetic gems used in class rings and discount store jewelry. Melt growth crystals lack fire and brilliance and have a “dead” look like a piece of colored glass.

Superior solution growth lab gems are more often created using the flux method, the method used to create the high quality cubic zirconia and lab gems sold online at www.Pehnec.com. Cubic zirconia, lab ruby, lab sapphire and synthetic alexandrite crystals are formed in supersaturated chemical baths. The flux method used to create the loose lab gems sold by PehnecGems produces the world’s highest quality cubic zirconia and lab gems. These manmade gems are virtually indistinguishable from Mother Nature’s own creations without the aid of a microscopic inspection and examination by a qualified expert.

In fact, high quality lab created gems like lab rubies and lab blue sapphires are created using the exact same chemical composition used by Mother Nature. PehnecGems lab rubies and lab sapphires are created in the lab from synthetic corundum, just as nature creates these gems from naturally occurring corundum. Superior production techniques allow these lab created gems to be cut and polished exactly like natural gems and diamonds.

Because of the name similarity, laymen sometimes confuse cubic zirconia with the naturally occurring mineral zircon. Although these crystals may both exhibit a diamond’s clear sparkle, the two couldn’t be more different chemically. Cubic zirconia is a zirconium dioxide while zircon is a zirconium silicate. It’s like the chemical difference between sodium chloride, common table salt, and sodium carbonate, washing soda used to launder clothes. The names may be similar, but you’d never sprinkle sodium carbonate on your morning eggs!

The same degree of difference is true of zircon and cubic zirconia. Zircon is Earth’s oldest naturally occurring mineral. Tiny 4.4 billion year old grains of zircon have been found in quartz conglomerates in Western Australia. (The Earth’s age is currently dated at 4.56 billion years.) Only very rarely does zircon produce a gem-size crystal and these quickly degrade due to the mineral’s natural radiation. More commonly, small grains of this accessory mineral, eroded from igneous and metamorphic rocks in the Earth’s crust, are plentifully found in beach sand.

Another synthetic diamond look alike is moissanite, a silicon carbide that just came on the jewelry market last year. Found in nature only as a trace mineral in meteorites from outer space and in kimberlites, igneous rock formations that also produce diamonds, synthetic moissanite can now be lab grown to jewelry quality carat-size crystals.

Cubic zirconia, moissanite and natural diamonds are nearly identical to each other in appearance and physical properties. Cubic zirconia differs from diamonds in that cz has a higher specific gravity (it weighs nearly twice as much as a diamond) and lacks a diamond’s ability to conduct heat. Moissanite is slightly harder than cz and has a specific gravity slightly lower than a diamond’s. It can conduct heat but, unlike diamonds, also conducts electricity. Despite their differences, cubic zirconia has proved to be a more flexible gem substitute than moissanite because colored cz can be created in any color and cut into any shape, unlike its kissing cousin.

In the 1960s French scientists developed a cold crucible technique that resulted in the growth of very small cubic zirconia crystals, but they were unable to create crystals of useable size. The French method was finally perfected by the Soviets in 1973 and the renamed skull crucible method for the shape of the crucible used in production. Soviet modifications led to the first viable commercial production of cubic zirconia.

Since that early success several other production methods and advances have been developed to improve the lab creation of loose cubic zirconia gems. One of the more popular and successful techniques applies extremely high heat and pressure to minerals such as corundum and graphite to approximate the natural conditions under which nature creates diamonds. Lab creation of cz gems, however, takes only a tiny fraction of the millions of years nature requires to grow these beautiful crystals.

Once successful production of cubic zirconia began in 1976, demand for loose cubic zirconia grew rapidly. Global production topped 50 million carats by 1980. Current demand for cubic zirconia and lab created gems is again rising rapidly. The recession has fueled the popularity of cubic zirconia gems and jewelry. With less disposable income, consumers are choosing high quality cz gems that look just like nature’s creations but come with a far less expensive price tag.

Also driving cubic zirconia sales is concern about the environmental impact of mining on the planet. The desire to buy “green” has turned loose cz gems and cubic zirconia jewelry into an eco-friendly consumer choice. “Green” jewelry featuring cz diamonds and colored cz gems set in recycled precious metal settings is in high demand.

Issues of social justice are another factor driving loose cz sales. Abhorrence at the misuse of mine workers in developing countries and the use of “blood diamonds” to finance bloody civil wars has increased consumer awareness of the social issues surrounding natural gems. Today, many consumers prefer manmade cubic zirconia and lab created gems to nature’s creations as a statement of social consciousness.

View PehnecGems’ outstanding selection of loose cubic zirconia at wholesale prices at www.pehnec.com.

One of the unique attributes of cubic zirconia is its ability to be perfectly created in the most sought after colors of other crystal gemstones, allowing lab creation of beautiful cz emeralds, cz topaz, cz amethyst, cz aquamarine and many other glittering gems. Its indistinguishable appearance from naturally created gems, durable hardness and low cost have made loose cubic zirconia the most exciting and important diamond competitor in the jewelry and fashion marketplace.

Jewelers have been substituting other materials for diamonds and precious gems for centuries in an attempt to find affordable alternatives to expensive natural gems. Ancient Egyptians painted wooden gems on the coffins of royalty. In the 18th century, Europeans wore paste jewels made from carefully cut and polished leaded glass. Today some fraudulent foreign gem dealers place carefully molded silvered or colored foil paper behind set diamonds and gems to give greater brilliance and deeper colors to inferior stones.

The successful laboratory synthesis of high-quality, jewelry-grade loose cubic zirconia in 1976 began with a search for an economical substitute for diamonds for use in optical lasers. Since the 1892 discovery of baddeleyite, the rare natural form of zirconium oxide, zirconia’s extremely high melting point had presented a considerable obstacle to commercial production. With a melting temperature of nearly 5000 degrees Fahrenheit, existing crucibles could not hold the mineral in its molten state.

It would be nearly a century after the discovery of baddeleyite before scientific knowledge and technology would reach a point that would allow successful laboratory creation of cubic zirconia. Tune into our next post for the rest of the story.

Viable cubic zirconia was created in the lab in 1930. Interestingly, in 1937 naturally occurring microscopic grains of cz were discovered in metamict zircon by German mineralogists M.V. Stackelberg and K. Chudoba who believed cz to be a product of the metamictization process. Metamictization is the naturally occurring destruction of a mineral’s crystal structure through internal bombardment by radioactive impurities.

Cubic zirconia was first produced for economic use in lasers and other technical optical applications. Because of its extremely high melting point, production was problematic until the perfection of the cold crucible technique by Soviet scientists in the 1970s. Commercial production of cz took off in 1976 and improvements have continued. Loose cubic zirconia are now available in a wide variety of quality and colors from cz wholesalers.

Besides its affordable price, key features that distinguish cubic zirconia from diamonds include:

• CZ is 1.6 times denser and therefore heavier than diamond with a higher specific gravity, 5.6 to 6.0.
• Harder than most natural gems and nearly as hard as diamond’s 10, cz registers 8 on the Mohs scale.
• With a refractive index of 2.17, cz is nearly as refractive as diamond which has an index of 2.42.
• Both cz and diamond exhibit subadamantine luster.
• CZ has an exceptionally high dispersion, 0.060, compared to diamond at 0.044, producing greater prismatic fire.
• Completely colorless AAAAA cubic zirconia, comparable to a perfect D on the diamond color grading scale, can be created in the lab whereas most diamonds contain yellow or brown flaws.

Weight and the fact that cubic zirconia is a thermal insulator while diamond is a thermal conductor are the two easiest ways to distinguish cz from diamonds. On looks alone, the two appear identical.

About Author
Wendy Moyer is an independent journalist. PehnecGems is a trusted resource that offers customers the opportunity to purchase loose cubic zirconia. Have a look at the PehnecGems website for further information see www.pehnec.com