Citrine
Yellow to orange variety of crystalline quartz.
Physical properties:
| Chemistry: | SiO2 |
| Hardness: | 7 |
| SG: | 2.65-2.66 |
| Cleavage: | None |
| Fracture: | Moderately brittle |
| Heat sensitivity: | Low |
Optical properties:
| RI: | 1.54-1.55 |
| Dispersion: | 0.013 (medium) |
| Double refraction: | 0.009 (weak) |
| Pleochroism: | Very weak, light yellow and yellow |
| Critical angle: | 40° |
Facet angles (pavilion/crown):
| Vargas: | 43°/42° |
| Olson: | 43°/42° |
| Soukup: | 43°/42° |
| Roth: | 43°/42° |
| MDR: | 43°/42° |
| Schlagel: | 42°/38° |
| Hashnu: | 43°/42° |
| Sinkankas: | 43°/40-50° |
| GIA: | 43°/42° |
| Perkins: | 43°/42° |
| Raytech: | 43°/42° |
| Cornwall: | 44°/36° |
| Weikoff: | 43°/42° |
| Carroll: | 43°/35.3° |
Cutting lap:
All grit sizes
Facet polishing:
| Vargas: | Cerium oxide on acrylic, Aluminum oxide on tin or tin/lead |
| Olson: | Tin or cerium oxide on acrylic or tin, Ultralap |
| Christiansen: | Cerium oxide on acrylic, Aluminum oxide on tin or tin/lead |
| Perkins: | Cerium oxide on BATT or Corian |
| MDR: | Tin or cerium oxide on acrylic or tin |
| Raytech: | Aluminum or tin oxide on Fast Lap, tin or phenolic |
Cabochon polishing:
| Olson: | Tin or cerium oxide on felt |
| Christiansen: | Aluminum, tin, or cerium oxide on felt or leather |
| Cox: | Cerium oxide on felt or leather |
| Covington: | Cerium oxide on felt or leather |
Orientation:
According to any color banding and with color centers in the culet.
Treatments/synthetics:
Virtually all saturated yellow to reddish-orange stones are heat-treated amethyst and may sometimes exhibit the same polishing difficulties. Citrine with a weak to distinct greenish tone is often called Lemon, Neon, or Lime Quartz and is irradiated rock crystal or smoky quartz.
Synthetic Citrine is produced in large volumes.
Tips!
May sometimes be difficult to polish on plexiglass (acrylic, lucite); try using aluminum oxide on a tin lap or Lightning lap A1.
LightningLap with cerium oxide is excellent for polishing large facets.
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