Many crystal products in our daily life are artificial crystals. What is the difference between artificial crystals and ordinary glass?
In short, artificial crystal is a kind of glass. Artificial crystal is high lead glass, or lead crystalline glass, that is, adding 24% lead oxide to ordinary glass (composed of silica) will get artificial crystal with brightness and transparency similar to natural crystal.
The artificial crystal is very transparent. Facing the sun is basically pure and bright, generally without any defects. Another feature that distinguishes natural crystal from artificial crystal is the luster of crystal. The surface of natural crystal jewelry presents grease luster, but the surface of artificial crystal jewelry presents glass luster.
Most of the colored crystal necklaces we usually see are artificial crystals. There are fewer real natural colored crystals and fewer used to make jewelry, so the price is much higher than that of artificial crystals.
How to distinguish between ordinary glass and artificial crystal?
Artificial crystal is a glass containing lead oxide. The higher the component containing lead oxide, the higher the refractive index and hardness, the purer the finished product is, the harder it is to cut, and the rarer the finished product is. Therefore, the value of high-quality crystal ware is very different from that of ordinary glass or low refraction crystal.
When hitting the utensils by hand, the sound of artificial crystal products is crisp, like metal. After impact, there will be a lingering sound. The "Dangdang" sound with metal sound. The harder the crystal, the louder the sound. The sound of ordinary glass products is stuffy and has no echo. It is a stuffy "pop" sound.
Look at the luster in the sunlight. The colorful light reflected by the high-quality crystal is bright, and the transition light is very natural and rich; The color of ordinary glass refraction is often incomplete and dim. Compared with natural light, high-quality crystal has high transparency and shows crystal white, while ordinary glass or impure crystal will turn yellow or mixed with cyan.
The higher the handmade fineness of the colored crystal pattern, the more detailed and complex the pattern forming on a small area, and the higher the value. Touching by hand, the surface of manual pattern has the rough feeling of hand, while the surface of machine-made pattern is smooth.
The hardness of artificial crystal is much higher than that of ordinary glass, and it will not become dirty after long-term use. However, if glass is used repeatedly for a long time, it is easy to have scratches and surface fouling. Artificial crystal is harder than glass. Therefore, when using artificial crystal to scratch the surface of glass, a trace will be left, while when using glass to scratch crystal, there will be no such trace.
Artificial crystal products are heavier than ordinary glass, which is relatively lighter.
Most domestic artificial crystals are made of K9 material or lead containing material. The crystal products are fine in workmanship, light and elegant. China is also the main producer of artificial crystals in the world.
Content provided by gmtlight crystal products division