About Lab Grown Diamonds

Lab-grown diamonds are those which are created in Labs and not mined naturally. But that doesn't mean that they're less precious or anything. In fact, they are as exquisite as the real ones. Also, they are affordable and leave no carbon footprint behind, which means that they are created without harming the environment in any manner.

When Lab Created Diamonds made their way into our lives, they changed the entire industrial market setup and the jewelry market. The best part about Lab-grown diamonds is that they can be marvellously shaped into any form desired without causing any harm to the stone.

Comparing Natural And Lab-made Diamonds

PARTICULARS	LAB-MADE DIAMONDS	NATURAL DIAMONDS
Conflict-free diamonds:	Yes	Unsure
Authentic diamonds:	100%	100%
Origins:	Made in Laboratory	Found in mines
Environment Friendly:	Yes	No
Quality:	Flawlessly created	May/may not possess quality standards
Customizable:	Yes	Unsure
Longevity:	Forever	Forever
Artificial:	No	No
Fading Brilliance/Shine:	No	No
True Diamond	Yes	Yes
Affordability:	Economical	Expensive

How are lab grown diamonds created

Grown diamonds are made one of two ways - either through High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT), or through Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD).

HPHT Diamonds Method

How does nature form diamond crystals? Nature does it very deep underground. Diamond growing naturally takes place about 100 miles below the earth’s surface.

Why? Because that’s where the conditions of extremely high pressure and high temperature needed for diamond formation are naturally found. We see diamonds closer to the surface of the earth when a rare kind of deep volcano brings them up to where humans can find and mine them.

The first successful synthetic diamond was made by imitating nature with High Pressure/High Temperature (HPHT) manufacturing. There are three basic manufacturing processes used to make HPHT diamonds: the belt press, the cubic press, and, therefore, the split-sphere (BARS) press.

The goal of every process is to make an environment of extremely high and temperature where diamond growth can occur. Each process starts with a little diamond seed, which is placed in carbon and put under very high pressure and temperature to grow the diamond.

The GE invention of the belt press uses an upper and lower anvil to use pressure over 1.5 million pounds per sq. inches and temperature above 2,000 degrees Celsius. During this environment, the pure carbon melts and begins to make a diamond around the beginner seed.

On December 16, 1954, a belt press was applied to make the first reproducible lab-grown diamond. The diamond was tiny and nowhere near clear enough to be utilized in jewelry, but it had been a start.

As a side note here, we should always mention that even today, most of the man-made diamonds that are produced aren’t of gem quality. They’re made for industrial applications where the amazing properties of a diamond (hardness, thermal conductivity, etc.) are used to make better tools and equipment.

Since the initial success with the belt press, HPHT technology has constantly been advancing. Belt press designs are dramatically scaled up, more modern cubic and split-sphere presses are introduced, which are more efficient, and bigger, more perfect gems are being produced.

The Elements and Material Utilized to Create a Lab grown Loose Diamonds Are:

A small diamond seed.

Highly refined graphite.

A high-quality enzyme mixture containing metals and powders.

When the machine is switched on, due to high pressure and high temperature, the catalyst mixture turns in to a molten form. Which then produces the refined graphite to dissolve in it, and forms various layers over the diamond seed. Then after the cooling is completed, an HPHT diamond has been formed.

Carry out the HPHT Diamond making method, and apply the required conditions, two kinds of machines or press designs are used.

Cubic Press- Creates high temperature and pressure with the help of pistons, which are located throughout the machine and supply pressure from different directions.

Belt Press- during this machine, high pressure is made by two strength pistons. These pistons apply equal pressure in opposite directions.

CVD Diamonds Method

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) may be a more recently developed technique by which diamonds are often grown from a hydrocarbon gas mixture. Within the CVD Diamond process, a thin slice of diamond seed (often an HPHT produced diamond) is placed during a sealed chamber and heated to around 800 degrees Celsius. The chamber is then filled with a carbon-rich gas (usually methane) alongside other gases. Then, the gases are ionized into plasma using microwaves, lasers, or another technique. The ionization split the molecular bonds within the gases, and the pure carbon adheres to the diamond seed and slowly builds up into a crystal, atom by atom, layer by layer.

The CVD Diamond process has a few advantages over the HPHT process. High pressures aren’t needed, and temperatures, while high, don’t get to be anywhere near as high as with HPHT. Also, CVD diamonds can be grown over larger areas by starting with a bigger diamond seed plate.

Finally, the CVD Diamond process allows for finer control over the environment within the growth chamber and, thus, the properties of the polished diamond.

Within six to 12 weeks, a sizeable rough diamond is formed. It is then cut, polished and graded by the same world- renowned labs that certify earth-mined diamonds.

Colorless and near-colorless CVD diamonds are usually type IIa, while only 2% of natural gem diamonds are type IIa. Type IIa diamonds are characterized by high purity (low nitrogen) and transparency in specific parts of the ultraviolet and infrared optical spectrum. Numerous UV detection instruments on the market can provide the first indication of a possible CVD diamond.

Intense research is ongoing around the world into the field of Chemical Vapour Deposition, and each day the technology is improving. CVD diamonds can be grown in a range of colors and sizes, with high clarity. The gemstones produced are as beautiful and durable as natural diamond, and they are expected to fill an important market niche in the near future.

CVD Diamond Method Also Has Some Kinds, Which Are:

Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Decomposition(PECVD)
Microwave Plasma Chemical Vapour Decomposition(MPCVD)
Low-pressure Chemical Vapour Decomposition(LPCVD)
Ultra-High Vacuum Chemical Vapour Decomposition(UHVCVD)

Mined Diamond

V/S

Lab grown

What's the difference between Lab-Grown Diamonds and Natural Diamonds?

Both mined and lab-grown diamonds are made of pure carbon that is transformed into sparkling cubic crystalline stones. While their chemical foundation gives lab-grown diamonds the same optical properties as natural diamonds, lab-grown diamonds have no intrinsic rarity. Formed over millennia, natural diamonds acquire their scintillating shapes from the pressure of being compacted deep within the earth's crust. Because of this, all of the natural diamonds that will ever exist have already been created making them forever rarities. Laboratory-grown diamonds, on the other hand, can be produced limitlessly.

Diamond Properties Comparison

PROPERTIES	Natural diamonds	Laboratory-grown diamonds
Chemical composition	C	C
Crystalline structure	Cubic	Cubic
Refractive index	2.42	2.42
Dispersion	0.044	0.044
Hardness	10	10
Density	3.52	3.52
Energy use	Around 57 kWh	Around 26 kWh
Scarcity	Very scarce, especially as this is	No real scarcity
Long-term value	Stable long-term value	Decreasing long-term value
Blue Fluorescence	Depending from Strong to none	None
Phosphorescence	No	Some
Average price(Round, 1ct, G colour, excellent cut, VS2)	$5500	$1800

ARE LAB GROWN DIAMONDS ETHICAL?

Without a doubt, lab developed diamonds are a guaranteed method of ensuring your precious stone has been morally created and sourced – so to put it plainly, lab developed precious stones are more moral than mined diamonds. Ethical diamonds are in more prominent interest than at any other time, as purchasers, NGOs and bodies, for example, the UN require a conclusion to the exchange of contention precious stones.

Worldwide endeavours, including the UN’s Kimberley Process, keep on progressing in the direction of destroying mined blood precious stones from the worldwide market, and have forestalled 99.8% of the overall exchange of blood diamonds. So while a mined diamond in the UK market is in all likelihood strife free, picking a lab developed diamond guarantees 100% straightforwardness of its ethical sources.

Contrasted with the land utilized for mining endeavours, lab developed precious stones are a less troublesome, more practical choice than mined diamonds. Having said this, lab made diamonds take a lot of energy to empower their development – normally between 250 kWh and 750 kWh. This is a figure prone to fall with improved innovations, and as of now a few makers guarantee their lab diamonds take as meagre as 20 kWh to develop.

Pure Lab Diamonds is the ideal organization to team up for retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers who are hoping to work in the diamond business by partnering themselves with just conflict free, eco-friendly and top quality lab made diamonds. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if there should be an occurrence of any questions or proposals.

Myths and Facts

MYTH: Lab Grown Diamonds are artificial.

FACT: Although Lab Grown Diamonds are referred to as synthetic diamonds, in reality, they are as pure as the natural ones. These are called so because of the material/chemical that is used to imitate the natural ones. Lab Grown Diamonds consist of 100% carbon and in fact, they are born from carbon seeds of already existing natural diamonds.

MYTH: Lab Grown Diamonds are not real diamonds.

FACT: There is no real difference between Natural Diamonds and Lab-made diamonds. Instead of a diamond being created under the surface of the earth due to extreme conditions, it is created in a Lab where the same conditions are mimicked. The place where a diamond is created only changes, whereas the chemical composition and authenticity remains the same.

MYTH: Lab Grown Diamonds are not pure like Natural diamonds.

FACT: It is in fact reversed. Purity in natural diamonds is difficult to be found compared to the one grown in a Lab. Only 2% of the natural diamonds have the same level of purity as the ones grown in the Lab.

MYTH: Lab Grown Diamonds are very cheap to manufacture.

FACT: There is a lot that goes while mining for diamonds under the earth. One has to literally go down 150kms under the earth to mine for diamonds. With so much digging and mining, the amount of resources that are wasted is unimaginable. Why undergo so much when one can easily create diamonds with the same chemical composition in a Lab. But to even create diamonds in a Lab is not easy as it takes skilled chemists, physicists and PhD holders to create the perfect environment for the diamond to form.

MYTH: It is not easy to determine that a Lab Grown diamond is conflict-free.

FACT: Every man-made diamond is conflict-free. After being sourced from first-world countries, these diamonds are carefully cut and polished in modern Labs. On the other hand, natural diamonds are required to be vetted in order to make them conflict-free.

MYTH: Lab-grown diamonds harm the environment.

FACT: It is true that Lab diamonds may not be very ecofriendly. But when one compares it to the natural ones, Lab Grown Diamonds are least destructive to nature. Mining diamonds from the crust of the earth takes up a lot of resources which can damage the earth as well the air. Comparatively, man-made diamonds do not harm the environment to such a large extent.

MYTH: Lab Grown Diamonds may change in appearance as time passes.

FACT: As man-made diamonds have similar physical, optical and chemical properties as the natural ones, it is not true that their appearance will change. Although American diamonds usually do get cloudy over a period of time, they are not the same as Lab Grown Diamonds and in fact, they are cubic zirconia, which means they are not even real diamonds.

MYTH: There is no resale value of man-made diamonds.

FACT: Since Lab Grown Diamonds are relatively new to the market they are yet to find their place in the resale scenario. Plus, the process of mining is highly expensive since it is more difficult to retrieve diamonds 100s of miles below the earth. Lab-grown diamonds may yet not be considered in re-sale value, they are still real diamonds and they have their own blunt costs.

MYTH: Lab Grown diamonds lose their value over time.

FACT: Diamonds that are mined undergo a lot more exchanges, unlike the man-made ones which have a transparent supply chain. Lab Grown Diamonds can be replaced or changed whenever required.

MYTH: Diamonds mined from the crust of the earth are very rare.

FACT: This is false as diamonds are found in abundance below the surface of the earth. Although retrieving them is time- consuming, that does not mean that they are hardly found. In fact, the market is to be blamed for creating such a false perception so that they can amplify the prices.