Diamonds are one of the hardest materials known to man and the hardest naturally found substance.
While they are extremely hard they are brittle too, so they can crack.
Only a diamond can scratch another diamond, so be careful while wearing multiple rings.
Diamonds are almost fully carbon, however they can contain impurities. These impurities can give diamond their colour.
The diamond is the birth stone for the Month of April.
A Lab Grown diamond is “grown” inside a controlled environment using cutting-edge technology replicating the natural diamond growing process. The result is a diamond that is chemically, physically and optically similiar to natural diamonds.
The HPHT process replicates the conditions where diamonds grow in the depths of the earth, starting with a microscopic diamond seed (carbon).
The carbon seed is blasted with high temperature, pressure, and gasses.
The carbon atoms gradually build onto the diamond seed thus creating a new gem in a period of six to ten weeks.
Chamber conditions cannot fluctuate, or the resulting diamond will be unusable for jewelry making.
At the end of the process, the new Lab Grown diamond is cut and polished exactly as a mined gem.
In an HPHT diamond, the crystal structure is disorganized as growth happens in all directions. These are suitable for cutting small sizes.
The polished diamond will show visual features such as color distribution, and graining patterns related to their cross-shaped, growth-sector structure and fluorescence caused by residues of BORON.
CVD is a very different technique where the diamond seeds are placed in a vacuum-sealed chamber while extreme pressure is applied to hydrocarbon gases, typically methane and hydrogen. The chamber is heated to an extremely high temperature resulting in the decomposition of the hydrogen to form pure carbon atoms (diamond).
The release of these carbon atoms drops in a mist and attaches themselves to the original diamond seed gradually building into a new gem.
A lab-created diamond is “grown” in a lab using cutting-edge technology that replicates the natural diamond growing process.
| Characteristics | Lab Grown | Natural | Stimulants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical Composition | C | C | No |
| Crystalline Structure | Cubic | Cubic | No |
| Refractive Index | 2.42 | 2.42 | No |
| Dispersion | 0.044 | 0.044 | No |
| Hardness | 10 | 10 | No |
| Density | 3.52 | 3.52 | No |
Lab Grown
Diamond
Mined/Natural Diamond
VALUE: Lab Grown diamond’s are a likely choice – it retails at 30% to 40% less than a mined diamond of equal quality and size.
Lab Grown diamonds take less than four weeks to grow compared to mined diamonds which take approx. a million years.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY LGDs are FRIENDLIER to the environment:- use less freshwater – emit fewer greenhouse gasses – do not disrupt the land.
TRACEBILITY: 100% of Lab Grown diamonds are 100% traceable, down to the date when they were produced, and where.
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