Sphene
| Refractive Index : 2.034 – 1.900 (+0.020 – 0.020) |
| Optical Characteristic : DR, B+ |
| Specific Gravity : 3.52 (+0.02 – 0.02) |
| Formula : CaTiSiO5 |
| Crystal System : Monoclinic |
| Variety/Species : All |
| Species/Group : sphene |
| Birefringence : 0.100 to 0.135 |
| Dispersion : 0.051 |
| Hardness : 5 to 5.5 |
| Toughness : Fair to poor |
| Ultrasonic : risky |
| Steam : Never |
| UV Long : Inert |
| UV Short : Inert |
| Pleochroism : 3 colors |
| Strength : moderate to strong |
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| Pleochroism Colors : Colorless/ green; colorless/ blue; pale yellow/ brownish yellow/ orange-brown. |
| Heat : Avoid abrupt temperature change |
| Acids : Attacked by acids and/or chemicals |
| Light : stable |
| Polish Luster : Adamantine |
| Fracture : splintery to conchoidal |
| Fracture Luster : Adamantine to resinous |
| Clarity Type : N/A |
| Tones : N/A |
| Saturations : N/A |
| Cause of Color : intense green: chromium: others: rare earth elements |
| Enhancements : none |
| Cleavage : distinct 1 direction. |
| Color Range : Yellow, green, orange, brown, red, yellowish, greenish, orangy, brownish, reddish. Red is rare. |
| Transparency : Transparent to translucent |
| Phenomena : None |
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| Separations : Sphene from- Synthetic rutile : magnification, spectrum, SG, optic character Zircon : optic character, spectrum, SG Scheelite : SG, optic character, fluorescence, color (possibly) Andradite : optic character, magnification, spectrum, cleavage CZ/GGG/YAG : doubling, SG, magnification, spectrum |
| Identifying Characteristics and information Strong doubling, strong dispersion. Twinning is common. Avoid rough handling. Also known as Titanite. May show two directional cleavage with a 66.5 degree angle between them. |
| Spectral Data May have a doublet at 5800. |
| Trade Names and Misnomers Chrome Sphene(S) Greenovite Grothite Keilhauite Sphene Titanite |
Tags: sphene
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