What exactly are irradiated pearls?
Irradiating pearls involves using rays (cobalt 60) to change the bead core from white to black, resulting in a silvery blue pearl bead layer. Irradiated pearls only change the color of the bead core; the pearl's quality, blemishes, and nacre are unaffected. Poor-quality pearls will remain poor-quality pearls if irradiated.
Are irradiated pearls harmful to the human body?
For ordinary consumers, wearing irradiated pearls will not have any obvious radiation effects on the body because the radiation level of Cobalt 60 disappears after stopping the irradiation process. In addition, Cobalt-60 is also widely used in food disinfection and sterilization. It can effectively kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Therefore, it is considered safe by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and other agencies. In general, irradiated beads are not harmful to the human body if they are manufactured under safety standards and are not damaged during normal use and wear. However, if you have any concerns, it is advisable to seek the advice of a jewelry professional or a medical professional.
Will the color of the irradiated pearls fade?
Compared to the natural silver-gray, it will be more stable because the nucleus has turned black, so it will not fade significantly. Natural silver-gray Akoya pearls are caused by brown secretions mixed between the pearl nucleus and the pearl layer, and the color of the pearl will become lighter over time.
Given this, why not implant black bead nuclei? Pearls implanted with black nucleus are referred to as colored pearls and cannot be called natural cultured pearls. Akoya pearls in the silver-blue range have only natural and non-natural colors. Anything that is not a natural color must be considered "coloring." There are two types of coloring methods: the chemical method, which involves dyeing with dyes, and the physical method, which involves irradiating with cobalt 60 radiation, also known as irradiation or baking color. After pearls are irradiated, the bead nucleus turns black, and the bead appears silver-gray and pearlescent due to the refraction of light by the bead layer.
The Madama, Blue rose, and Saiundama pearls from PSL must be in their natural color without any artificial toning.
Differentiating between natural and irradiated pearls: One way to distinguish natural color pearls from irradiated ones is by examining their cores. Natural pearls typically have a white core, whereas irradiated pearls have a black core. Another method is to inspect the hole that has been punched into the pearl, you can tell by the perforation.
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