A British university lecturer has developed a world-first chemical process to grow a full-sized ruby in its jewelry setting.
It could herald a new era in the low-energy production of lab-made gemstones.
Sofie Boons, a researcher in jewelry design at the University of the West of England (UWE) uses a tiny fragment (or seed) of ruby, and says the process requires as little as five hours of energy in a furnace.
She has produced a platinum ring as part of her PhD project with a ruby grown in situ as the center stone.
She says the rubies she is making require far less energy than traditional lab grown gems.
A fragment of ruby is placed in the setting, then a chemical agent called a flux is used to lower the temperature, which enables growth in the gem.
“I am experimenting growing them inside the furnace for between five and 50 hours,” said Boons in a news release from UWE.
“The longer time means I get crystals which are a little bit cleaner and bigger. I’m working to shorten the time process to make it more sustainable.”
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