Properties of colored topaz by new surface treatment

(Received February 19, 2013)(Revised March 12, 2013)(Accepted March 15, 2013)Abstract We performed analysis of composition and structure of coating layers by using ED-XRF and TOF-SIMS forsome passion topaz of Swarovski which developed recently as new surface treatment of TCF (thermal color fusion)technique. In addition, we compared differences between Ti-coated topaz (Mystic topaz) and new treated colored topazes(passion topaz) with magnification observation and simplified durability test. As a result, we can observe similarcharacteristic clues in Ti-coated topaz and passion topaz by magnified observation. According to results of depth profile byTOF-SIMS, we can know that topaz is treated by multi-layer coating or surface diffusion coating. Moreover, the passiontopaz which is treated by chemical reaction between metal elements shows more stable chemical resistance and higherMohs’ hardness than Ti-coated topaz.Key wordsTCF topaz, Coating, Depth profile, TOF-SIMS, Durability