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muskytortoise t1_j699ynh wrote

Reply to comment by QuitBeingALilBitch in can gemstones be melted into a gradient? by Acceptable_Shift_247

Sapphire melts in 2053°C, amethyst melts in 1650°C. That's problem number one.

Problem number two is: gems are only gems if they form large and relatively uniform crystalline structure while cooling down.^(*some exceptions apply but are not relevant) Otherwise they will look like obsidian, or rock depending on what happens to that structure. Melting destroys that structure so any area that was melted will undergo changes into a glass at best, and it's unlikely to keep the colour of the original.

Problem number three is: different gems have different crystal lattice that forms different shapes. You can't really make a smooth connection between those.

Problem number four is: different gems are made out of different things, they generally can't be mixed to make a hybrid gem but will make regular "rock" instead.

That means that from the start you would be limited to minerals that are made out of the same things, have similar melting points. Then you can't really cause them to recrystallize appropriately without very specific conditions which are going to be different for two different ones. Gems that can do what you're asking are just a single multicolored gem with different impurities in different locations. Two different ones can't do that because of the reason they are gems in the first place - if you mix them they lose what made them gems.

https://www.geologyin.com/2021/07/watermelon-tourmaline-what-is.html

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QuitBeingALilBitch t1_j69ck9t wrote

I'm aware that melting changes the structure, and I didn't say it would keep the color, I even suggested that it wouldn't have the gradient op was looking for and would be more of a seam than a mixture. I was imagining exactly what you described: two crystals joined by an amorphous obsidian like glass.

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muskytortoise t1_j69f98d wrote

But what's the point then? Gluing them together or placing them next to each other would make for a much nicer final product. Maybe you could use some of the machines used in precision welding but those are designed for metals, so you would most likely need a custom one. In theory you can "melt together" any two objects that can melt but if the final result is completely irrelevant then what's the goal?

Either way, while I wasn't able to find studies that checked thermal stress in any gemstones I strongly suspect the crystals would crack if exposed to temperature gradients required to do that.

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