Luxurious precious items with natural stones can not afford every lady. And everyone wants to buy something beautiful. For these purposes, scientists have derived artificial stones from natural substances. With the help of nanotechnology, a glass-ceramic crystal was created. According to its external data, it is not inferior to many natural stones. Today glass-ceramics of various colors are produced.
History of occurrence
Many people are interested in sitall (stone). What's this? We heard more about artificial cubic zirconias, but information about sitalls is not so widespread. Sitall gemstone is a glass-ceramic material. Abroad, the technology for its manufacture was developed earlier (in 1957). It belongs to the American Donald Stukey. Dow Corning, which produces these crystals, gave them the name "pyrokers".
In the Soviet Union, Isaak Kitaigorodsky was involved in the development of glass-ceramics. Yes, and many other Russian scientists have contributed to the development of crystal technology. So, sitall (stone) - what is it, where did such a name come from? Unusu althe word was formed from two chemical elements that make up this crystal. From sicilium (silicon) they took the syllable "si", from aluminum - the syllable "al", and it turned out sitall. It is very similar in composition to volcanic rock and belongs to high-temperature silicate glass.
Crystal characteristics and properties
Zirkonia in its properties is more like a diamond, but the sitall was copied under sapphires and emeralds. It is made of glass, but there are some distinguishing features between them. The formula used to create this crystal is SiO2, it is very similar to rock crystal. It is the latter that is the raw material for quartz glass. What does sitall (stone) look like? A photo of this artificial crystal can be seen in the images in the article. It is quite hard and non-porous. How reliable is sitall stone? The properties of this crystal depend on how complex it is. And it consists of the smallest crystals, therefore it is very dense, it is equated to steel. Only a diamond surpasses it in hardness. The stone conducts heat well, it is impossible to melt it at home. This was achieved thanks to lithium, aluminum and minerals, which are introduced into the composition.
Sitall beautifully shimmers, it is almost transparent, resistant to various chemical reactions. How can such a large number of crystals be connected so that pores do not form between them?
Production process
Glass has a natural propertycrystallize over time. It was he who was taken as a basis by scientists when creating the glass-ceramic. The manufacturing process of this material resembles glass ceramics. To begin with, prepare the starting materials - the charge. It may include several nucleators (components for clarification). There are several billion tiny crystals per cubic millimeter.
Then such a mixture is necessarily meltable. First, the center of the stone crystallizes, then the temperature is increased until new aggregates grow around it.
After that, the stone lends itself to cooling. This is how sitall is obtained. The stone is widely used for jewelry purposes. The glass-ceramic technology was used to pour ruby glass for the Kremlin stars in Moscow.
How sitall is used
In what other areas besides making jewelry is this artificial stone used? The properties of glass-ceramic can be adjusted by adding certain elements to its composition, for example, such: perlite, dolomite, copper, silver. Therefore, the crystal is widely used in mechanical engineering. It is an excellent electrical insulator, transparent enough, suitable for the manufacture of lenses, mirrors, filters.
Serves as an excellent material for coating metal parts. With such protection, the metal does not rust and has a beautiful appearance. Sitall coated pipes are used in the oil refining industry.
Stone with elements of aluminum and lithium is used in dentistry (for making fillings).
Types of artificialcrystal
The most common application was this artificial stone in the jewelry industry. There are several types of sitalls. Ametrine, which consists of two colors and resembles amethyst, is very popular. No less popular is sultanite, which can change color.
Very many fashionistas are interested in sitall (stone). What it is, today is already known to many women. Silver and gold jewelry in our time cannot be imagined without synthetic stones. Sitall "London" - a stone that resembles a gray-blue topaz with a smoky tint. This nanocrystal pairs very well with gold and silver alloys. If a girl has light skin and light blue eyes, then the glass bottle "London" will suit her perfectly.
It is also worth listing the following types of sitalls: Madeira citrine, tourmaline, tanzanite, pink marquise, trillion garnet, etc.
Demand in the jewelry market
We found out, sitall (stone) - what is it. The synthetic mineral is in no way inferior in its characteristics to sapphire, blue topaz, emerald. It has a very even color and good transparency. Sitall has another very important advantage - it tolerates high temperatures. This allows it to be used in jewelry, which is made by casting. Crystals are placed in molds and metal is poured there, heated to 1000 degrees. Cubic zirconia cannot withstand such high temperatures: they either deform or fade. But sitalls do an excellent job with such a test, so cubic zirconias have a seriouscompetitor. Nanocrystal products are very exquisite and relatively inexpensive.
The superiority of synthetic stones
There is a lot of controversy around synthetic stones about their advantages and disadvantages. Jewelry artificial crystals are absolute analogues of natural minerals, but created in the laboratory. Real stones grow in the natural environment, while synthetic ones are grown artificially. They can be compared to flowers that are cared for in a greenhouse. There they are large, bright, bloom for a long time. So are stones: in the laboratory you can experiment with color, composition, strength. Artificially grown crystals are in no way inferior to natural ones, in some cases even surpass them. One of the brightest representatives is sitall.
Synthetic developments of scientists also include Swarovski stones, sapphire glass, cubic zirkonia. They are used as analogues of various rare stones. Earrings, bracelets, rings using these bright crystals greatly diversified the range of jewelry. Any woman will be happy with jewelry with glass-ceramic inserts!
