Photo of Brazilianite in Processed & Rough Form
Brazilianite is a mineral with a hardness of 6 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness [?]. These Monoclinicly structured gems are made of aluminum sodium hydrosulphate, their full chemical compound being Al3Na(PO4)2(OH)4.
Brazilianite is a soft and brittle mineral that in general does work very well as a gemstone. It's soft at 5.5 Mohs, and so it will quickly either shear apart, or crumble at the edges.
As one might guess Brazilianite was first discovered in Brazil. It tends to be a yellow or light yellowish green mineral.
This mineral has also been found in New Hampshire, United States. The mineral is so rare it is almost always mistaken as a Chrysoberyl.
All in all a nice piece for a collector, but not so well suited for trinkets and jewelry.
The specific gravity [?] for Brazilianite is 2.99, its refractive index [?] is 1.60-1.62, and its double refraction [?] is 0.021.
History
Originally found in Brazil in 1944. First thought to be Chrysoberyl.
Industrial Usages
Due to it's rarity we think the usage of this mineral to be very limited.
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