HEAT TREATING

RUBY AND SAPPHIRE:

TECHNICAL ASPECTS
By Kurt Nassau
Ru b y and sapphire of natural or synthetic
origin can be heat treated t o improve
asterism; t o remove asterism or silk; t o
improve, add, or remove color; and even
t o alter imperfections. At least ni ne
distinct processes can be identified,
although several ma y occur
simultaneously. Some of these treatment
met hods correspond t o natural processes
and ma y not leave any evidence of their
use; others do not correspond t o natural
processes and are readily identifiable.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Nassau is a research scientist residing in
Bernardsville, NJ, He does not wish to be
contacted on any aspect of this article.
Acknowledgments: The author is grateful to
Robert Crowningshield, of the GIA Gem Trade
Laboratory in New York, for helpful discussions;
and to Robert E. Kane, of the GIA Gem Trade
Laboratory in Los Angeles, for gathering the
illustrations and writing the figure legends,
%'I981 Gemological Institute of America
I
n recent months, a variety of heat-treated sapphires
and rubies with gemological characteristics different
from any previously seen have appeared on the market.
Contradictory rumors abound regarding the different
manners and methods of treatment.
Examples of heat treatment methods that have been
used to improve the appearance of gemstones include the
conversion of green aquamarine to blue; the "pinking" of
brown chromium-containing topaz; the "crackling" of
quartz; the reddening of yellow agate, carnelian, and
tiger's-eye; the development of the blue color of tanzan-
ite; and the conversion of amethyst to citrine or to
"greened amethyst." Such processes may be termed heat-
ing, burning, annealing, firing, high-temperature soaking,
and so on. The use of these types of heat treatment is
usually not specified.
The reaction of synthetic corundum (Nassau, 1980a)
to various types of heat treatment has been studied widely,
and the results are equally applicable to the natural ma-
terial. Although most of the treatment methods described
here have been known for some time, their use to im-
prove rubies and sapphires has become widespread only
recently.
The important parameters in any type of heat treat-
ment are:
1. The temperature-time relationship
2. The oxidation-reduction conditions
3. The presence of chemical substances that can in-
teract with the gemstone
Heat treatment of corundum can affect the presence of
milkiness and asterism, the color, and even the internal
structure (inclusions as well) of the material. A number
of separate processes have been distinguished, although
several may be performed simultaneously. The exact
temperature, duration of treatment, and chemicals used
Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981 121
for each process will depend on the specific ma-
terial being heated; considerable variation must
be expected with corundum from different lo-
calities.
Nine possible treatment modes are summa-
rized in table 1 and examined in turn below. Iden-
tifying characteristics of such treatment methods
have been discussed in detail by Crowningshield
and Nassau (1981); therefore, they will be touched
on here only briefly.
It should be noted that no consensus has yet
been reached as to whether any of these types of
treatment need to be disclosed to the buyer. The
parallel is sometimes drawn that since heat treat-
ment is not customarily disclosed with other
gemstones, such as heated blue aquamarine, why
should such disclosure be necessary with sap-
phires and ruby? There may be validity in viewing
some types of treatment in this way, especially
those that mimic natural processes (as is the case
with aquamarine). However, other treatment
methods-diffusion in particular-do not have
any parallel in nature. The results of diffusion
treatment, for example, are readily recognized,
and remind one more of Lechleitner synthetic
emerald overgrowth on a natural beryl than of
heated aquamarine.
PROCESS 1:
DEVELOPMENT OF
POTENTIAL ASTERISM
Some natural sapphire and ruby, as well as some
synthetic material intended for star use, contains
a significant amount of titanium oxide. If such
corundum cools fairly rapidly from its growth
conditions, the material remains clear; the tita-
nium oxide is in "solid solution" in the form of
Ti f i (titanium sesquioxide) replacing some of
the A120y (aluminum oxide).
If such material, which typically contains only
a few tenths of a percent titanium oxide, is held
at between llOO and 1500 for some time
(say, 1300 for 24 hours), particularly under
mildly oxidizing conditions, the TizOg converts
to TiOz (titanium dioxide) as follows:
In most cases, the TiOz will then form needles of
rutile within the corundum and thus produce as-
terism. This process, which was patented for Linde
Air Products Company by Burdiclz and Glenn
(1949)) is used to create all synthetic stars in co-
rundum (Nassau, 1980a), and the analogous pro-
cess also occurs in nature. In fact, if a piece of
TABLE 1. Heat treatment processes used on sapphires and rubies
Treatment
group
Specific
processa Result
Heating only 1. Moderate temperature
(1 30OoC)
2. High temperature
(1 60OoC), rapid cooling
3. Reductive heating
(1 6OO0C)
4. Oxidative heating
(1 6OO0C)
5. Extended heating
(1 800C
Heating under unknown 6. ?
conditions
Diffusion of impurities into 7. Add TiO,
the material (extended 8. Add Ti02 and/or Fe203
heating at 1800C 9. Add Cr203, NiO, etc.
Develops potential asterism
Removes silk and asterism
Develops potential blue color
Diminishes blue color
Diminishes Verneuil banding
and strain
Introduces fingerprint
inclusionsb
Produces asterismb
Produces blue colorb
Produces other colorsb
^Treatments 1 through 4 correspond to processes that also occur in nature; treatments 5
and 6 are used on synthetic material; treatments 7 through 9 do not correspond to natural
processes. The temperatures given are representative only and will depend on the nature of
the material and the length of time they are used.
'Effect is limited to a region near the surface.
122 Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981
Figure 1. Left, mi l k y whi t e "geuda" corundum
from Sri Lanka; photograph by Ti no Hammi d.
Right, i nt ense bl ue color i nduced i n Sri Lanka
' geuda" b y t he heating met hod described i n
process 3; photograph b y Michael Havstad.
natural corundum contains sufficient titanium
oxide but was not heated sufficiently in nature to
develop a good star, perhaps showing only fine
"sillz," asterism can be developed by means of
such heat treatment. Thus far, however, this pro-
cess appears to have been used on natural corun-
dum on an experimental basis only.
If rutile needles in natural corundum are too
coarse to provide a good star, process 2 can be
used to return the titanium oxide to solid solu-
tion by the reverse of equation (1)) and process 1
can be used subsequently to form star-causing
needles as described above. The heating condi-
tions of process 1 are relatively mild and often
leave no evidence by which this treatment may
be recognized with certainty.
It should be noted that the AlaOg-TiOa phase
diagrams of Lang et al. (1952) and Lejus et al.
(1966) show an intermediate compound Al2TiO5,
and that this and other compounds have been sug-
gested as representing the needles (e.g., Phillips
et al., 1976). However, detailed examinations
always have pointed to the rutile form of tita-
nium oxide as the principal component of the
needles (e.g., Nassau, 1968; Phillips et al., 1980).
Neither of the phase diagrams cited considers the
solid solubility of TiOz or Ti203 in A1203, which
must, on theoretical grounds, be present (see also,
for example, Bratton, 1971).
PROCESS 2:
REMOVAL OF SILK OR ASTERISM
If corundum containing silk or asterism caused by
rutile needles is heated to a sufficiently high tem-
perature, typically between 1500 and 1700C
the rutile will dissolve in the corundum by the
reverse of process 1 :
When all the silk has disappeared, the corundum
is cooled fairly rapidly, perhaps 30 per minute
(Fallzenberg, 1978), so that rutile needles do not
re-form as in process 1, Asterism may be removed
in a similar manner.
The suggestion by Sasalzi (1980) that this form
of heat treatment might be conducted success-
fully at 1000 (538OC) implies a temperature that
is as unreasonably low as the 4000 reported by
Tombs (1980) is unreasonably high (it is above the
melting point!). Tombs also proposes that the silk
may originate from substances other than tita-
nium oxide, for example, from a-corundum pre-
sent in fi-corundum. But ordinary corundum is
a-corundum. Such unsupported suggestions must
be discounted unless and until concrete evidence
becomes available. Nevertheless, it is possible
that heat treatment may cause other inclusions
or defects to disappear by a process of solid so-
lution similar to that involving titanium oxide.
Oughton (1 97 1) quotes another unusual sugges-
tion, namely that liquid may be used to fill the
hollow tubes that cause sillz, with the effect wear-
ing off after about 12 months. This might work
if only there were hollow tubes!
Process 2 appears to be used widely on silky
Australian sapphire and on milky white to pale
blue "geuda" corundum from Sri Lanka, which is
turned blue by the simultaneous use of process 3
(see figure 1). Gunaratne (1981) refers to this pro-
Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981 123
cess, but most of his discussion of the genetic
history of geuda material and of the treatment
used must be taken as purely speculative, since
it is in great part inconsistent with known data.
Cloudy Burma rubies, too, are said to be improved
in this way, with the color also benefiting from
the removal of the silk.
In many cases, this form of heat treatment
may be identified by a dull, chalky green fluores-
cence and the absence of an iron line at 4500 A
in blue sapphire, and by internal stress fractures
(figures 2 and 3). Pockmarked facets and abnormal
girdles (figure 4) may also be seen if the stone has
Figure 3. Left, phlogopite
mica in a pink sapphire
Magnified 27 X. Photomicro-
graph by Robert E. Kane.
not been properly repolished (Crowningshield and
Nassau, 1981). However, none of these character-
istics may be present in a given treated stone, or
some may be present in stones that have not been
treated.
PROCESS 3:
DEVELOPMENT OF COLOR IN A
STONE WITH A POTENTIAL FOR BLUE
The color in blue sapphire is explained by a
'charge transfer" process (Nassau, 1980a, 1980b).
This is widely accepted to originate from the iron-
titanium combination (Townsend, 1968; Leh-
from Sri ~a n k a , ~ i g h t , the
same stone after heating to
approximately 1000
produced stress fractures
surrounding the inclusions.
Magnified 55 X. Heat
treatment and
photomicrographs by
John I. Koivula.
124 Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981
Figure 4. "Double girdle," where part of the
original girdle was missed during repolishing.
This indicates how the surface of a stone may
become pockn~arked during a high-temperature
treatment. Magnified 25 X. Photomicrograph by
Robert E. Kane.
mann and Harder, 1970; Ferguson and Fielding,
1972; Eigenmann et al., 1972; Schmetzer and
Bank, 1980). Recently, iron-iron charge transfer
has been suggested as an alternative (Nilzolslzaya
et al., 1978)) though it is highly improbable; ti-
tanium is still essential, since the blue color never
develops without it. Therefore, the process in-
volved in these charge transfers is either
where a and b refer to different sites in the crys-
tal. In each instance, a single electron is trans-
ferred from one atom to another atom and back
again.
It is important to note that both processes re-
quire that some of the iron be in the divalent fer-
rous, Fe2+, state. Also, sufficient quantities of iron
and titanium must be present in the original stone
to produce a deep blue.
A sapphire that contains adequate amounts of
iron and titanium oxides but is too highly oxi-
dized, so that not enough ferrous iron is present,
may be pale blue, green, yellow, or colorless in its
original state. Such material may be heated in a
strongly reducing environment to convert some
Fe3+ to Fez+, as follows:
This change can be achieved by an extended heat-
ing of the stone in a hydrogen atmosphere for
equation (5) or by packing the material in char-
coal, graphite, or another substance that produces
carbon (such as mineral oil, sugar, and the like),
so that combustion with only a small amount of
air produces carbon monoxide
which then participates in equation (6).
The maximum color possible given the iron
and titanium content of the stone can be achieved
via equation (5) or (6). With sufficiently extended
heating (hours to days?) at a high enough temper-
ature (perhaps 1500 to 1700C) the reduction
will penetrate throughout the stone and produce
a uniform color (aside from any inherent banding
due to uneven distribution of impurities). The re-
ductive heat i ng~ of Schmetzer and Bank (1980)
did not show this type of reaction, undoubtedly
because the temperatures employed were too low
(they heated in the hydrogen atmosphere at
1000 and in the carbon monoxide environment
at 1 200C] Eigenmann and Gunthard (1 972) were
successful with hydrogen at 1600C
As in the case of process 2, this treatment
method appears to be used commonly on silky
Australian sapphire and on milky white to pale
blue corundum from Sri Lanlza. Possible identi-
fying characteristics include chalky green fluo-
rescence, no iron line at 4500 A, internal stress
fractures (figure 5), pockmarked facets andlor ab-
normal girdles, and blotchy color banding or zon-
ing within the stone.. This treatment can be
reversed by means of process 4.
PROCESS 4:
LIGHTENING OF BLUE SAPPHIRE
If blue sapphire is heated for an extended period
(hours to a day or so) in an oxidizing atmosphere
(air or pure oxygen), all of the iron may be con-
verted gradually to Fer3+:
The result is the slow removal of one of the es-
sential coloring ingredients, Fe2+, on the left side
of equations 3 and 4, thus lightening the blue
color. If the process is continued long enough, a
virtually colorless stone may result. This treat-
ment has been described by Jobbins (1971)) Eigen-
Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981 125
mann and Gunthard (19721, Harder (1980), and
Schmetzeqand Bank (1980). If an underlying yel-
low is also' present, the final color may be green
or yellow; a purple sapphire that also contains
some chromium could lose the blue color entirely
and end up as ruby (the oxidation has no effect on
the red chromium coloration); and so on. Tem-
peratures in the 1000 to 1700 range may be
used, and this treatment can be reversed by using
process 3; identifying characteristics are similar
to those for process 3 (figure 6) .
Figure 6. Left, fluid
inclusion, probably carbon
dioxide (C02), i n a sapphire
from Sri Lanka. Right, the
same stone after heating t o
approxim a rely 1 OOO i n
air resulted i n the
almost total dissipation of
color and the appearance of
a large stress fracture
around the inclusion.
Figure 5. The stress fractures i n
this sapphire from Sri Lanka
resulted from a heat treatment
method like the one described
i n process 3. Photomicrograph
by Robert E. Kane.
Process 4 is used to lighten dark blue, "inky"
Australian sapphires (Gunaratne, 1981), some-
times producing a pronounced green dichroic di-
rection in the stone. Undoubtedly, it has also
been applied extensively to purplish and brown-
ish Thai rubies, which were so common at one
time but now are seldom seen (Crowningshield
and Nassau, 1981). This process as used in Sri
Lanka has been described by Gunaratne (1981);
the reported difficulties in obtaining consistent
results probably derive from the use of charcoal,
Magnified 45 X. Heat 1
treatment and
photomicrographs by
John I , Koivula.
J 4 -
-, -.
126 Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981
which can lead to reduction rather than the de-
sired oxidation if not performed carefully.
PROCESS 5:
DIMINISHING VERNEUIL
BANDING AND STRAIN
Extended heatings (for many days) at sufficiently
high temperatures (1600 and up), such as those
associated with many of the processes discussed
here, will result in a reduction of strain and will
permit some smoothing of color irregularities.
The curved striations typical of Verneuil-grown
synthetic corundum originate from irregularities
in the growth process; their main feature is a var-
iation in the concentration of the impurities
(Nassau, 1980a). Heating for an extended period
permits a very slow diffusion to even out some of
this variation, with the degree of improvement
depending on the duration of the heating process.
This lengthy, high-temperature process is said
to be performed in Bangkok on synthetic Verneuil
blue sapphire. When used in conjunction with
process 6 (below), it results in improved color and
less prominent curved growth lines. It is also
more difficult to observe a positive Plato test in
stones treated in this manner (Crowningshield
and Nassau, 1981). A similar procedure should be
possible in ruby and other colored corundum. The
small gas bubbles associated with the Verneuil
technique probably cannot be removed in this
manner.
PROCESS 6:
INTRODUCING FINGERPRINT
INCLUSIONS
As reported by Crowningshield and Nassau (198 11,
some samples of "heat-treated natural blue sap-
phire" obtained from Bangkok turned out to be
Vemeuil synthetic sapphire with induced finger-
print inclusions. Both Verneuil synthetic ruby
and pink sapphire showing fingerprints were also
reported by Crowningshield (1980). Judging from
the characteristics of these stones, it is clear that
an extended heat treatment similar to that of pro-
cess 5 was involved.
At present, nothing definite is lznown about
the treatment used with synthetic stones to mimic
the fingerprint inclusions of their natural coun-
terparts. The simultaneous occurrence of finger-
prints, curved but weakened Verneuil banding,
and occasional gas bubbles is clear evidence of
such a treatment. According to some unsubstan-
tiated reports, a flux-type chemical such as so-
dium carbonate or borax may assist in this pro-
cess. It should be noted that the formation of
inclusions seems to be limited to a region close
to the surface of the stone.
THE DIFFUSION MECHANISM
Diffusion in solids is a mechanism by which at-
oms may be moved from one region to another.
The amount of movement increases with both
the temperature and the length of the heating.
Atoms of oxygen or hydrogen can move very rap-
idly in corundum, which explains why the effects
of processes 3 and 4 will penetrate fully through-
out a stone in as little as a few hours in some
cases (and no more than a day or so in others).
The formation or removal of the rutile needles of
silk and asterism in titanium-containing corun-
dum is also diffusion controlled. Although tita-
nium diffuses very slowly, the distances involved
are so small, only a few micrometers, that pro-
cesses 1 and 2 as well require only a day or so to
be effective. The banding in Verneuil-grown co-
rundum is much coarser; this explains why ex-
tremely long heating would be required for the
near-total removal of the banding by process 5,
which involves the movement of the slowly dif-
fusing color-causing transition metals such as
chromium, iron, titanium, and nickel. It is not
lznown if a total removal of the banding is pos-
sible, since other factors (the dislocation struc-
ture, for example) may prevent this from oc-
curring.
The movement of color- and star-forming at-
oms into and within corundum is a very slow pro-
cess; as a result, the effects of processes 7, 8, and
9, discussed below, are limited to a relatively thin
skin on and just below the surface, typically to a
depth of a few tenths of a millimeter. Very high
temperatures must be used to obtain significant
penetration in a reasonable time, since the fuel
costs for these forms of heat treatment are con-
siderable. As a consequence of the high temper-
atures required and the thin film that results,
these treatment methods cannot be performed on
rough material but must be applied to a preform
or a cut stone; even so, only the lightest of pol-
ishing (or repolishing, since the surface is rough-
ened by the treatment) can be used or the affected
skin will be completely removed.
It is the localization of the effect of these treat-
ment methods just below the surface of the stone,
Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981 127
Figure 7. A diffusion-treated sapphire (left) lies
next to a sapphire treated by a method like the
one described in process 3 (right), both
immersed i n methylene iodide. Immersion
reveals that the diffusion-treated stone has
much greater relief, as exemplified by a blue
outlining of facet junctions. The stone on the
right has l ow relief and does not show any facet
junctions except near the girdle where some
areas are slightly abraded. Magnified 10 X .
Photomicrograph by Robert E. Kane.
the restrictions on polishing, and the high tem-
peratures required that provide the clues to iden-
tifying that these processes have been used. View-
ing such stones while they are immersed in
methylene iodide reveals both the localized effect
and a blotchiness from the combination of un-
even diffusion and light repolishing (figures 7 and
8). Other signs are stress fractures, pockmarlzed
faces, and abnormal girdles as discussed under
processes 2, 3, and 4, and shown in figures 2
Figure 9. "Bleeding" of color around cavities
and fractures i n a diffusion-treated sapphire.
Magnified 15 X. Photomicrograph by
Robert E. Kane.
128 Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire
Figure 8. Diffusion-treated sapphire immersed
i n methylene iodide. Note the chip on the center
right of the stone, which reveals the color of the
untreated portion (both the blue color and the
color i n the chip area are much lighter than they
would appear without immersion and under
normal lighting conditions). Magnified 10 X.
Photomicrograph by John I. Koivula.
through 6 above, as well as a "bleeding" of color
around pits and fractures (figure 9)) as described
by Crowningshield and Nassau (1981).
PROCESS 7:
ADDING ASTERISM BY DIFFUSION
If the corundum does not contain any titanium
oxide, or at least not enough to form good aster-
ism, it is possible to diffuse some into the gem-
stone in the form of a thin layer at and just below
the surface. This process was first described in a
U.S. patent by Eversole and Burdiclz (19541, in-
tended for the manufacture or improvement of
synthetic Verneuil stars; a similar description ap-
peared later in a patent by Carr and Nisevich
(1975). Both patents were assigned to the Union
Carbide (and Carbon) Corporation (Linde). Typi-
cally, to produce the desired effect, a slurry of
aluminum titanate in water is painted onto the
stone and then fired at about 1750 for several
days. The stone is cooled and a subsequent heat
treatment, as in process 1, develops the asterism.
The depth of penetration may be only one tenth
of one millimeter.
Natural sapphires with added asterism, as well
as those with added color from process 8, have
been described by Crowningshield and Nassau
(1981). The process appears to be applied primar-
ily to fractured material that is unsuitable for fac-
GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981
Figure 10. Immersion in methylene iodide
reveals the localization and blotchiness of
diffusion caused by the combination of uneven
diffusion and heavy repolishing (which
uncovered the color of the untreated portion) of
an orange-red diffused sapphire. Magnified 8 X.
Photomicrograph by John I. Koivula.
eting; it can be recognized in stones by the un-
naturally sharp stars caused by very fine rutile
needles, by uneven color, by "bleeding" of the
color at pits and fractures, and by other evidence
of high-temperature treatment such as stress frac-
tures and pockmarlzed surfaces.
PROCESS 8:
ADDING BLUE BY DIFFUSION
If insufficient iron oxide or titanium oxide is pre-
sent in a colorless, yellow, green, or pale blue sap-
phire, i t is possible to add either or both of the
missing ingredients by diffusion. A reducing at-
mosphere as inprocess 3 is required, or a separate
reductive heating step must follow oxidative dif-
fusion. This type of diffusion is extremely slow,
so that even with extended heating the penetra-
tion will be shallow. The result is a relatively thin
skin of dark blue. This process was described in
detail by Carr and Nisevich (Linde patent) in 1975
for the combination with process 7, and subse-
quently as a separate process (Carr and Nisevich,
1976, 1977). It appears to be in wide use (Crown-
ingshield, 1980; Fryer, 1981), both on faceted
stones and on cabochons. Identification includes
immersion in methylene iodide as well as the
other clues described above for process 7.
When Linde stopped producing synthetic gems
about 1975, these U.S. patents were assigned to
the Astrid Corporation Ltd. of Hong Kong, a firm
set up to take over Linde's star corundum stock.
Accordingly, it would appear that any corundum
diffusion treatment in this country (or the im-
portation of such stones from abroad) could be
performed legally only by Astrid or with their ex-
press permission,
PROCESS 9:
ADDING COLORS OTHER THAN
BLUE BY DIFFUSION
Just as diffusion of iron and titanium oxide can
produce a blue slzin, so can other color-causing
impurities also be diffused, again as described by
Carr and Nisevich (1975, 1976, 1977). Thus, the
diffusion of chromium produces a red slzin, nickel
gives yellow, chromium plus nickel creates the
pinkish orange "padparadscha," and so on; the
colors that will be produced by the diffusion of
different substances are well known from sap-
phire synthesis (Nassau, 1980a). Orange-red dif-
fused stones (figure 10) were examined i n detail
by Crowningshield in 1979. There may be prob-
lems associated with oxidation/reduction condi-
tions if variable valence ions such as iron are in-
volved; the identifying characteristics are the same
as those given for processes 7 and 8.
The colors produced by these diffusion pro-
cesses are just as stable as the natural and syn-
thetic colors produced by the same impurities.
This contrasts with the yellow to orange color
produced by irradiating sapphire, which is unsta-
ble and will fade on exposure to light,
COMBINATION TREATMENTS
As suggested above, several of these processes can
be combined. Removal of silk and intensification
of color can be achieved in a pale sapphire by
heating the stone in a reducing atmosphere and
then cooling it rapidly, in a combination of pro-
cesses 2 and 3. The removal of silk will produce
an improvement in color even in the absence of
any other changes, since scattered white light no
longer dilutes the color. Among the chemicals
employed in this process as used on milky white
to pale blue "geuda" Sri Lanlza sapphires are a red
liquid reported by Crowningshield (1980) and since
shown to be mineral oil (its role is described un-
der process 3), the soda (sodium [bi-]carbonate?)
reported by Harder (1980) which is said to prevent
cracking of the stone and possibly to remove some
iron preferentially (?), and the "thick coating of
local paste" used i n oil, gas, or electric furnaces
as mentioned by Gunaratne (1981).
Heat Treating Ruby and Sapphire GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 1981 129
Diffusion of iron and titanium oxides and a
simultaneous reduction (as in process 3) can be
performed, according to Carr and Nisevich (1975,
1976, 1977), by embedding pale or nonuniform
star sapphire in a mixture of 0.25 weight percent
ferric oxide and 13 weight percent titanium oxide,
with the balance being aluminum oxide, and
heating the material in a reducing atmosphere at
1750 for 30 hours to produce a uniform-ap-
pearing dark blue sapphire; this is a combination
of processes 2, 3, and 8. The dominant effect is,
however, limited to a thin skin at the surface of
the stone.
DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY
Silk, asterism, various colors, and even imperfec-
tions in ruby and sapphire can be intensified or
diminished by appropriate heat and diffusion
treatments, as summarized in table 1. One must
sympathize with the gemologist in his attempt to
establish whether any of these many treatment
methods have been used on a given ruby or
sapphire.
Processes 1 through 4 can intensify or remove
silk, asterism, or the blue color of sapphire. These
processes involve heating in oxidizing or reducing
environments only and mimic processes that oc-
cur in nature. The development of potential as-
terism by heat treatment, for example, is suc-
cessful only if this step was omitted in nature. It
is this parallel behavior that renders ineffective
most tests commonly used to establish whether
a stone has been heat treated by man. Oughton
(1971) cites one such test (of which he himself
states that "the wisdom . . . is doubtful") in which
the least valuable stone from a parcel is heated to
observe the behavior. Unfortunately, even this
rather risky procedure gives no definite answer in
view of the many different types of heat treat-
ment that could have been used previously, the
analogous variety of ways in which the test could
be performed, as well as the possibility of varia-
tion within the parcel. In the absence of reliable
tests to identify such treated material, the report
and disclosure situation is not clear-cut.
Processes 5 and 6 are used on synthetic ma-
terial only, so the question of identification is
most important but that of disclosure of treat-
ment becomes irrelevant.
The diffusion processes 7, 8 and 9 do not have
a parallel in nature and their use can be identified.
Accordingly, it would seem that disclosure of
color or stars synthetically enhanced by diffusion
is essential.
Finally, it must again be emphasized that the
reaction of a material to a given treatment method
may produce a variety of results, depending on
the exact composition of the stone as well as on
its previous treatment history, both in nature and
by man.
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