Page 12 of Hard Materials by Rado

sapphire is manufactured industrially based on ultra-fine aluminum-oxide powder crystallized in a verneuil furnace at 2,150ēc to a single sapphire nugget each nugget is cut into disks with diamond saws then calibrated faceted and polished in a lengthy process lasting approximately four weeks rado s characteristic metallization ­ the application of a thin material layer onto the crystal ­ is a highly complex process metallization takes place in vacuum chambers where the sapphire crystals are treated with a vaporization source the vaporized metallic layer covers the entire underside of the crystal and is subsequently structured in a photolithographic process the sapphire crystal and the decoration are significant defining elements of our design language lucidity scratchproof transparency

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