Nucleation and Crystal Growth of Synthetic Diopside-Jadeite Jewelry

The effects of the crystalline temperature on the hardness and crystalline degree of synthetic diopside-jadeite were studied in this paper. Diopside-jadeite jewelry synthesized from glass with stoichiometry of 0.4CaMgSi2O6-0.6NaAlSi2O6 was obtained under 4.0 GPa, at the different temperatures from 900~1 900 ℃ and for 60 min. Two different hardness of the same piece of diopside-jadeite synthesized below 1 400 ℃ was caused by either the non-crystalline phase or its heterogeneous structure. The crystal growth and fibre construction of diopside-jadeite were studied by SEM at elevated temperature. The observed result reveals that the increasing temperature elevation is favorable to the formation of high quality diopside-jadeite jewelry that has longer, thicker, and more ordered crystal fibers. Microstructure of diopside-jadeite synthesized at higher temperature (1 450 ℃) is much similar to that of the natural one.