Look Great With Affordable Cubic Zirconia Jewelry
Friday, 3. July 2009
You are probably one of the people who own cubic zirconia earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings that are very much common throughout the world in terms of jewelry items. But do you know that the synthetic material of the items which substituted most of the diamonds today came from zirconium oxide? The cubic zirconia was not known before as it is so popular nowadays.
How Did Cubic Zirconia Jewelry Get Its Start?
Since 1892, scientists have known of the only naturally occurring zirconium compound, the mineral baddelyite. However, baddelyite is extremely rare and its very high melting point did not make it ideal at the time for a diamond substitute. In the 1930s zirconium compounds where stabilized, allowing them to stand up to heat (both physically and chemically) and they were then used as refractory materials. Refractory materials are used in ceramics and metallics.
In 1960?s, scientists developed more options to produce better applications regarding the forming of cubic zirconia crystals. One process was called the cold crucible, wherein the zirconia was being molten and enclosed in a thin layer of solid zirconia that eventually formed into small crystals.
