New diamond simulant

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi Jess,

A new diamond simulant was to appear on the market late summer
97. The material is synthetic moissanite, a silicon carbide. The
problem with this material is that it possess very high thermal
conductivity and bring the standard diamond thermal conductivity
probe testers obsolete. Diamond properties :

  • hardness : 10
  • RI : 2.42
  • SG : 3.5

Synthetic Moissanite properties :

  • hardness : 9.25
  • RI : 2.65 to 2.69
  • SG : 3.2

Cubic Zirconia properties ;

  • hardness : 8.5
  • RI : 2.15
  • SG : 5.80

Has you can see the properties for the synthetic moissanite are
very closed to the one for diamond and cubic zirconia. Two
characteristics of synthetic moissanite are :

  • it is doubly refractive,
  • and has white ribbon-like inclusions.

I believe the material is very deceptive, I haven’t seen it yet.
I don’t believe it is on the market yet as of today but certainly
one to watch for in the near future. The material is to be
marketed by a company called C3,Inc.

2

I ran spectrophotometry on moissanite In TUSCON… It looked
like a high pass filter icutting off in the 430-450nm range, as I
remember, very obvious and quite different than diamond. There
is a possibility that the old surface tension test (droplet
beading) using the old"diamond ink pen" will bean indicator, I
suggested this to GIA reseach (McClure&Shigley) but as of the
last time I talked to them they had not run the test (as they
didn’t know whether they still had one of the pens, with the
special ink). I did not get a chance to examine the stuff
microscopiclly and have been unable to obtain a sample from Jeff
Hunter at C3. They are in the midst of a public stock offering.
Supposedly they are also working on some $700 instrument to test
the stuff A lot of hype and scare tactics in the industry.

Marty Haske

Adamas Advantage Software: for Gemology, Mineralogy, Inventory
SAS2000 Spectrophotometer Analysis System For Diamond Color Grading,
Diamond Synthetic And Treatment Detection, And General Gemstone ID
Software Demos And Grading Issues at http://www.gis.net/~adamas/
Email Martin Haske mailto:@Martin_Haske for more

3

Hi Thanks. The on new simulant of diamond [i.e. moissanite] is very interesting. I like have one for my personal
collection, faceted and/or rough. Pls help me by providing with
us more on moissanite.

mohiuddin
email: @GEM_WORLD_LTD

4

Hi Martin,

I believe your Spectrophotometer Analysis System again will be
very helpful in differentiating between synthetic moissanite and
genuine diamond. I have made a couple of contacts to find out
positively if synthetic moissanite has or not a distinctive
spectrum such as diamonds. I will let you know if I get any
answer. Your Spectrophotometer Analysis System is definitely a
sure way of differentiating between diamond simulants, synthetic
diamonds and genuine diamonds. The grafts are as easy to read as
1 2 3 …

Best Regards.

Francoise.

5

Colorless Moissanite, at least the sample I tested in Tuscon,
appears like a high pass filter, at 430-450nm, if I remember
correctly, unfortunately, I did not keep the data file, as it
was done on a rental PC at the AGTA show… As soon as I can get
another sample to run I will publish the spectrophotometry on my
web page.

Adamas Advantage Software: for Gemology, Mineralogy, Inventory
SAS2000 Spectrophotometer Analysis System For Diamond Color Grading,
Diamond Synthetic And Treatment Detection, And General Gemstone ID
Software Demos And Grading Issues at http://www.gis.net/~adamas/
Email Martin Haske mailto:@Martin_Haske for more