Cracking of Gem Opals

Abstract

The value of gem opals is compromised by their potential susceptibility to “crazing”, a phenomenon observed either in the form of whitening or cracking. To understand the latter, 26 opal samples were investigated and separated into 2 groups based on handling: “water-stored” opal samples, which are stored in water after extraction, and “air-stored” opal samples, which are stored in air for more than a year. To induce cracking, samples were thermally treated by staged heating and characterized using optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy before and after cracking. For water-stored opals, cracking was initiated with moderate heating up to 150 °C, while for air-stored opals, higher temperatures, circa 300 °C, were required. In water-stored opals that cracked, polarized light microscopy revealed stress fields remaining around the cracks, and a red shift in the Raman bands suggested tensile stresses. These stresses were not observed in air-stored samples that cracked. Based on these observations, for air-stored samples, cracking was ascribed to super-heated water-induced decrepitation. By contrast, for water-stored samples, cracking was linked to drying shrinkage, which correlates with the anecdotal reports from the gem trade. We thus identify the physical origin of cracking, and by comparing it to current knowledge, we determine the factors leading to cracking.

Timing of Opalization at Lightning Ridge, Australia: New Evidence from Opalized Fossils

“…A gemological limitation is that some opal specimens are prone to developing cracks from dehydration; mined specimens are usually stored in vials of wa ter prior to sale. This stability issue was discussed in detail by Chauviré et al [79]. Alt hough they do not form the very precise geometric lattices seen in Opal-AG from Aus tralia, where precious Opal-CT occurs only in volcanic geologic settings [80], micro spheres in Virgin Valley Opal-CT are sufficiently ordered to cause light dispersion (Fig ure 30).…”