A Tentative Study on Lead Glass-Filled Tourmaline

In this paper, the lead glass-filled tourmaline samples which appeared on the jewelry market recently are tested by means of conventional gemmological testing, XRF, LIBS and EPMA for studying the identification characteristics.The results show that the lead glass-filled tourmaline samples have unnoticeable filling features, which are quite different from the organics-filled tourmalines by traditional treatment.However, Pb could be obviously found in the lead glass-filled tourmaline samples by using XRF and LIBS.EPMA back scattered electron image and secondary electron image features of the fillings in the lead glass-filled tourmaline samples can be diagnostic evidence for identifying whether the tourmalines are lead glass-filled or not.The chemical compositions of the fillings are Si and Pb, which distribute in the form of irregular plaques in the fractures.