This time and age we live in are interesting ones. The world around us evolved and technology reached immeasurable heights. This is only the first of the reasons why we have diamonds created in a laboratory. Truly a wonder of science. The carbon-made rocks are considered one of the world's toughest stones. Just imagine that today we can create them in a lab. It is truly staggering what a human mind can conjure and what our hands can create. This gives us enough reasons to dedicate a few lines of this text to the creation of these artificial stones. What are they, and what's behind the creation process?
This is a fair question. It deserves a good answer. You will be surprised that the answer is not a mystery. It is a quite straightforward process. Science if you like. But, for many people outside of the gem business, it could be a hoax of a sort is the predominant opinion. Things couldn't be further from the truth. So, to let you know the truth we are going to talk a little bit about lab grown diamonds. Let's remove the veil of mystery surrounding artificial diamonds. Once you finish reading this article your knowledge will be expanded, and you'll know a few things about the wonder of these stones.
What are Lab Grown Diamonds?
Let's start with the basics. We are talking about artificially created diamonds. They have been around for a while, and they go by many names. For some of you this might have created all the confusion. Have you heard about cultured diamonds? They're the same. They also go by the name of engineered diamonds or laboratory-created ones. But, in the end, we're talking about synonyms. The fact that you want to hear is that these diamonds are created artificially in a controlled environment. It was all made possible due to technological development where scientists are today able to recreate the process that originally happened in Earth's crust in a laboratory.
The best part about them is their similarity to the real thing. The end product can't be differentiated from the real thing by a non-expert. In the end, they appear identical, and both are carbon made. The number of similarities is quite high and this is why these rocks are so sought after. In some areas, such as color, artificial stones even have a better game when compared to the real thing. Lab grown diamonds are very popular even as we speak, and in the future, their popularity is only going to grow further. Now that you know the secret of what these rocks are all that is left is to explain how they are made. We are not scientists, but bear with us for a little bit more, as we're going to try and provide you with the best answer possible.
How Are They Made?
As we said, they are created by mimicking nature. In some areas of expertise, this is seen as sacrilege but when we talk of diamonds it is not like that. People are thrilled to have them around. You have two primary ways that you can get to the end product which is a laboratory-created diamond. The first one is called CVD. It relies on chemical vapor deposition. The other one is based on the mixture of high temperatures and high pressure and thus goes by the name of HPHT. Regardless of the one used, the end product remains identical.
The first method brings a diamond directly from a miniature piece of the original rock. Once inside the lab, it is exposed to high levels of carbon gas. This is the start of the proceedings. The second part is the adage of high temperature. Before you get a fully formed rock a few weeks need to elapse. During that time frame the process of ionization and crystallization occurs and a diamond is born.
CVD is amazing and the stones it creates are high-end products. This method is seen as the better option. The diamonds you receive through HPHT are deemed as rocks with higher quality. The primary reason things are like this is the adage for metal to the entire ordeal. With metal in the mixture, diamonds have more inclusions and they're visible. To achieve the end goal of this process a metal cube is used. The carbon is put inside and after a series of exposure to electric pulses, you get the end product. High temperature and high-pressure environments are crucial for everything to go the way it should. What happens as a consequence of this is that carbon gets broken down into particles that after the process of crystallization become fully-grown diamonds. Due to the use of a metal cube, these diamonds come with traces of metal in them. But, if you're not a gem expert you will never notice them.
Once created, artificial rocks are seen as no different from real rocks. They are graded by the 4C metrics and through any other metric that institutions such as GIA and IGI have. Due to this fact, these diamonds can be regarded as some of the best on the market if they have the sustained quality necessary. Considering that they are after all synthetic products they are still way cheaper when compared to natural pieces. But with little to no difference many of us see them as the better option out of the two.
Bottom Line
As we said in the beginning we as society have truly come a long way. To live in a world where diamonds can be artificially created is a wonder. In the future we can expect for the market to be flooded with these gems. They offer almost similar quality to the real diamonds but without any ethical or moral implication. This is great news, considering that we have many dirty stones coming from various parts of the world that are mined without human life or environment issues in mind. These are the issues you should have in mind the next time you go buying a ring. Why not take advantage of what science has given us?
