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The origin of the color of pearls in iridescence from nano-composite structures of the nacre

The origin of the color of pearls in iridescence from nano-composite structures of the nacre American Mineralogist, Volume 89, pages 1353–1358, 2004 1, 1 2 3 3 MICHAEL R. SNOW, * ALLAN PRING, PETER SELF, DUSAN LOSIC, AND JOE SHAPTER South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia Adelaide Microscopy, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, South Australia 5000, Australia School of Physical Sciences, The Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia 5001 ABSTRACT The origin of the variety of body colors exhibited by South Sea Pearls is in part due to a newly recognized structure of the nacre, the edge-band structure, which gives rise to interference colors characteristic of its width. With the pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima, the colors include a range of silver tones, creams, yellows, and gold in various degrees of color saturation. We establish here that the primary body color of P. maxima pearls arises from the interference of light within the binding regions of the aragonite tiles. The tile faces terminate in a fi ssured nano-composite structure contain- ing organic matrix within the margin of the aragonite tiles. This edge-band structure gives rise to an optical fi lm formed of organic matrix in aragonite. The TEM images show that the edge-band structure width increases http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Mineralogist de Gruyter

The origin of the color of pearls in iridescence from nano-composite structures of the nacre

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References (19)

Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2011–2019 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH
ISSN
0003-004X
DOI
10.2138/am-2004-1001
Publisher site
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Abstract

American Mineralogist, Volume 89, pages 1353–1358, 2004 1, 1 2 3 3 MICHAEL R. SNOW, * ALLAN PRING, PETER SELF, DUSAN LOSIC, AND JOE SHAPTER South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia Adelaide Microscopy, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, South Australia 5000, Australia School of Physical Sciences, The Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia 5001 ABSTRACT The origin of the variety of body colors exhibited by South Sea Pearls is in part due to a newly recognized structure of the nacre, the edge-band structure, which gives rise to interference colors characteristic of its width. With the pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima, the colors include a range of silver tones, creams, yellows, and gold in various degrees of color saturation. We establish here that the primary body color of P. maxima pearls arises from the interference of light within the binding regions of the aragonite tiles. The tile faces terminate in a fi ssured nano-composite structure contain- ing organic matrix within the margin of the aragonite tiles. This edge-band structure gives rise to an optical fi lm formed of organic matrix in aragonite. The TEM images show that the edge-band structure width increases

Journal

American Mineralogist – de Gruyter

Published: Oct 1, 2004

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