Physical Attributes: Hardness, Toughness & Durability
Moissanite’s brilliance outshines every gemstone, but its exceptional durability is truly remarkable, to say the least. Moissanite is a gemstone that will endure for generations and beyond.
A gemstone’s durability consists of hardness, toughness and stability.
Moissanite is Tougher than Diamond
The ability of a gemstone to remain intact, withstand force (pressure) and resist breaking or chipping is known as toughness. Determined by a substance’s atomic and chemical structure, toughness can vary directly within a gemstone. While both Moissanite and diamond are rated excellent in toughness, Moissanite has a different atomic structure than diamond which does not have a direction of cleavage (which sometimes is considered as a direction of structural weakness). Simply said, Moissanite outranks diamond in overall toughness.
Durability: Impervious to Heat & Chemicals
Durability is a material’s ability to remain intact or withstand exposure to temperature and chemicals. Moissanite can easily withstand temperature variations during the jewelry manufacturing process and repairs at a jeweler’s bench (unlike other gemstones such as cubic zirconia or emerald). In fact, Moissanite has a higher vaporization temperature than diamond and can withstand temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Moissanite is also very stable when exposed to various chemicals, solutions and acids typically used during both manufacturing and jewelry repair that commonly damage other less stable gemstones. Household chemicals such as bleach, chlorine, ammonia, etc. have no impact whatsoever.
Moissanite is One of the Hardest Gemstones on Earth
Hardness refers to a gemstone’s resistance to being scratched or abraded and is commonly expressed as a number ranking (1 being the softest and 10 being the hardest) on the Mohs relative hardness scale.
Moissanite ranks 9.25 on the Mohs scale making Moissanite one of the hardest gemstones on earth. It’s unusually high hardness makes scratching and abrasions very rare, even after many years of daily wear and tear.
Moissanite’s ability to resist abrasion and scratching easily outranks and is more than double (120%) the hardness of any popular diamond simulants such as Diamond Nexus (CZ), Russian Brilliants (CZ), or Asha Diamond Simulants (CZ).
