Lab created ruby

In ancient times, rubies were often more valuable than diamonds. Chinese lore posits that Emperor Kublai Khan offered an entire city exchange for one ruby. Many cultures have attributed various effects to wearers of ruby, including increased awareness, enhanced concentration, and heightened courage. The deep red color symbolizes the sun, and it was believed that if a ruby were thrown into the water, the water would boil. In the modern era, ruby crystals have found value in watchmaking, medical instruments, and lasers.

Unusual Properties

Ruby’s intense energy sharpens the mind, bringing a heightened awareness and excellent concentration. It promotes a courageous attitude and may increase success in controversies and disputes. Naturally formed rubies and lab created ruby, are highly prized crystals for technological use in watchmaking, medical instruments, and lasers for microscopic surgery.

Treatment

There are two types of lab grown rubies, which use different types of processing to create the red crystals. Both processes use the basic minerals necessary to create the red color associated with the ruby. The color is the result of combining aluminum oxide (which, by itself, is colorless) with chrome, creating a mineral known a corundum, or ruby. Flame fusion is a famous and the first process to produce synthetic corundum. They are created by dissolving a super-heated solution of aluminum oxide in lead oxide, then placed into a chemical solution where the growth of crystals occurs over several hours. Because of the quick growth and lack of inclusions that the flame fusion process produces, the result is a glassy appearance with no inclusions, and often small gas bubbles occur. Another method to produce a ruby is the Flux method. Flux growth rubies are created in a process that can take up to six months to complete, producing crystals that have qualities much closer to those of a naturally occurring ruby. Using a process in which intense heat and controlled pressure conditions provide a suitable growth medium for ruby crystals. The minerals are inserted into a molten mixture of chemicals, which is called “flux.” The lab grown ruby crystals form within the flux, forming in straight growth planes in the same manner as a natural ruby would.