In this ppt you can find basic information about Sapphires. Like, Sapphire, Saphires, Types of sapphires, Saphirus, Blue Stones, Corundum, Formation of Corundum, Formation of sapphires, Physical and chemical properties of sapphires, Applications of sapphires, Metaphysical properties of sapphires, Crystal structure of sapphires, Crystal, Stones, Artificial formation of sapphires, geological formation of sapphires.

1. SAPPHIRES

2. ➢ History
• The name sapphire comes from the
Latin word “saphirus” and the Greek
word “sappheiros”, and both of these
words mean blue. Sapphire refers to
more than just blue stones. In fact,
sapphires can come in violet, green,
yellow, orange, pink, purple, and
multiple shades of blue. These
colored sapphires are called fancy
sapphires. Red is the only color that a
sapphire cannot be because a red
sapphire is a ruby.

3. ➢Introduction
• Sapphires contain a range of colors
including green, yellow, blue, orange,
black and pink. Blue sapphires are
the most common and gems with a
rich blue to violet color are the most
desirable. Used alone, the word
'sapphire' means blue ‘Corundum’.
When the color of a sapphire is not
blue, the color is used in the name,
for example, pink sapphire, yellow
sapphire, or green sapphire.

4. ➢Corundum
• Corundum is the crystalline form of aluminum
oxide (Al2O3) and occurs naturally as an igneous
and metamorphic mineral and is synthesized
artificially by various high-temperature techniques.

5. ➢ Formationof Corundum
• Almost all inorganic gemstones are formed in the
Earth’s crust. The few famous rule breakers are
Peridot and Diamond, which form deep in the
mantle. But almost every other inorganic gem is
formed in the crust, as a result of the heat and
pressure associated with huge tectonic events when
continents collide. These tectonic events bring
together diverse rock types – and with them a
diverse range of possible chemical reactions, to
create a greater variety of mineral formations.

6. • Million years ago,
when the sea
creatures died, their
remains created a
layer of oceanic
sediment, eventually
forming limestone.
At around the same time, the Pan-African orogeny (the
plate movements creating the super-continent known as
‘Gondwana’) brought together most of the continental
crust on the surface of the planet at the time.
➢Formationof Corundum (Continue)

7. • The limestone created in the oceanic crust was crushed
between continental crusts. The former Mozambique
Ocean closed up, causing the limestone layer to
metamorphose into marble. This marble came into
contact with clay soils during this orogeny – this was
essentially an acid + base reaction, which combined
with the heat and pressure of tectonic collisions,
created the perfect conditions for gemstones (and
particularly Corundum) to form. This gemstone-rich
area is known as the ‘Mozambique Belt’.
➢Formationof Corundum (Continue)

8. • The Pan-African orogeny produced Corundum deposits in
Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and
southern India. These are around 500 million years old.
Almost all other Ruby and
Sapphire and deposits were
created in either the Pan-African
orogeny described above, or in
the Himalayan orogeny (about
50 million years ago). These
Corundum stones are around a
tenth of the age of those from
the Mozambique Belt.

9. • The huge tectonic event, when the Indian plate separated
from Gondwana and slammed into Central Asia at (by
geological terms) phenomenal speed, created the mountain
ranges of the Himalayas and Earth’s highest peak, Everest.

10. ➢Deposits Of Sapphires

11. ➢FormationOf Sapphires
• There are two different ways for the formation of
Sapphires:
1. Geological Formation
2. Artificial Formation

12. ❖ ArtificialFormation
• There are further two processes for the formation of artificial
Sapphires:
1) Melting Processes
2) Solution Processes
While Melting Processes Further includes two more Process:
a) Verneuil Process
b) Czochralski process

13. ❑ Melting Processes
The most inexpensive and oldest melt process is
Verneuil process and also known as Flame Fusion. In this
method, a flame melts aluminum oxide powder (the
principal mineral in corundum). The drops form into a long
teardrop shape called a “boule.” The addition of other
minerals to the aluminum oxide can create colored
varieties of sapphire. Also, adding Chromium to the
Aluminum Oxide will create synthetic Ruby.
This piece, on display at the
Natural History Museum in
London, UK, was removed
from the flame fusion
process before completion.

14. ❑ MeltingProcesses (Continue)
Another melt process, the
Czochralski process, uses radio
waves to melt the aluminum
oxide. A rod tipped with a seed
crystal is inserted into the
mixture and slowly rotated and
pulled out, creating a column of
sapphire. Although an expensive
way to synthesize sapphires, it
can create up to 4” of crystal per
hour.

15. ❑ SolutionProcesses
Hydrothermal synthesis
is a solution process that
closely mimics natural
formation, subjecting the
minerals to intense heat and
pressure in a sort of
“pressure cooker.” Sapphires
form around a seed crystal as
the mineral solution rises to
the top of the cooker.

16. ➢ Crystal Structure
• Because Al is trivalent, each oxygen atom is bonded to only two Al,
and thus, only two out of three available octahedra are occupied.
This arrangement makes the structure neutral; therefore, no
charge balancing cations are needed. The sheets are held together
by strong covalent
bonds and this
results in a very
hard and dense
structure. In fact,
corundum is one of
the hardest and
densest minerals
after diamond.

17. ➢ Physical and ChemicalProperties
• Chemical composition
• Chemical resistance
• Hardness
• Specific weight
• Young’s modulus
• Melting point
• Heat capacity
Single-crystalline Al2O3
Inert for most Acids
9 (Mohs)
3.98 g cm−3
360 - 450 GPa (25°C)
2040 °C
764 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ (25°C)

18. ➢ MetaphysicalProperties
• From antiquity, gemstones have been thought to possess
mysterious powers. Sapphire is said to be the wisdom stone,
stimulating concentration, enhancing creativity and promoting
purity and depth of thought.
• It is believed to focus and calm the mind as well as remove
unwanted thoughts, depression and mental tension. It is
known as the stone of new love and commitment and is
claimed to be useful in encouraging faithfulness and loyalty.
Sapphire is thought to bring peace of mind, serenity and
prosperity.
• Because of its blue color, it is associated with the throat and
brow chakras where energy imbalances are said to cause sore
throats, headaches and nightmares.

19. ➢ Applications
• Sapphires and are used in jewellery and ornaments
because of their attractive colors.

20. ➢ Applications (Continue)
• After that the hardness of
Sapphires (corundum) also
makes it a great material for
industrial abrasives. It is
used to make grinding wheels,
emery paper, and abrasive
powders used for grinding and
polishing. Corundum is also
used to make electronic
instruments, components and
windows that are scratch,
shatter and UV-resistant.
Pink abrasive wheel made out
of corundum for grinding
machine and to scratch other
materials.

21. ➢ Applications
Hand Use Aluminum Oxide Emery
Cloth Tj113 Aluminum Oxide
Aluminum Oxide, Brown Fused
SandblastingAbrasive

22. ➢ Applications (Continue)
Corundum watch bearings : used to
make the moving parts of a watch,
and it was able to stand up to the
continuous abrasion without failing.
Scratch- and UV-resistant windows:
Sapphire is used in the formation of
shatter and UV resistance windows
in order to make them useful.

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