If not the earth-mined diamonds, then it can be the lab-grown diamonds without fail. Lab-grown diamonds, relative to the natural diamonds, are easy to purchase. They neither hurt the pockets nor they hurt the diamond-desiring souls. Do you know why? Because they are lab-grown, they are man-made, they are nature's friend. Since they are created in laboratories under the inspection of the experts at high temperature and pressure, they grow identically as the earth-mined diamonds and are obtained at a reasonable rate.
Is that everything that you wanted to know about these nature-friendly diamonds? We guess, not. We have encountered multiple controversial conversations regarding their birth, their origin. Some say they are duplicate since they imitate diamonds. While some love to define their diamond jewelries with these lab-grown diamonds.
Let us not go into the controversy. Read further to know how the man-made diamonds are grown manually in the labs.
To initiate the process of diamond creation in the labs, tiny carbon seeds of pre-existing diamonds are used. Advanced technology and methodologies like HPHT or CVD are most commonly used to create lab-created diamonds that mimics the natural method of diamond formation.
HPHT: Diamonds that are created using HPHT or High-Pressure High-Temperature process mainly undergo three tunnel – belt press, cubic press, and split-sphere (BARS). In all the three processes, the diamond seeds are exposed to a high temperature and pressure. Most jewelry labs, for example, the labs of Diamonds Inc, Chicago use this process in their diamond formation. The process include several following steps.
Step 1. At the very beginning, a disc with 15-30 diamond seeds is placed in the heat chamber.
Step 2. Next a plasma ball rich with superheated gases is created in the growth chamber.
Step 3. So as to intimate the formation of natural diamond, the temperature is increased to 900-1200 degree Celsius.
Step 4. During this process, the methane and hydrogen gases stick to the diamond seeds. It takes about 3 to 4 weeks to form a diamond in the lab.
Step 5. Once the diamond is grown, tech monitor is used to inspecting the lab-grown diamond.
Step 6. Finally, the cubic shaped rough diamonds are obtained and travel to the gem labs to cut, polish, grading.
CVD: CVD or Chemical Vapor Deposition process, as the name implies, takes help of some chemical compounds to create diamonds in labs. In this process, a chamber filled with a carbon rich-gas, for example, Methane and other gases are used. These gases with advanced technologies are ionized into plasma that in turn breaks the molecular bond in the gases. Once this is done, the pure carbon gets adhere to the diamond seed and gradually crystalizes to form a lab-grown diamond.
These processes are just to form a rough diamond. And once they are shaped and graded, it is time to customize your engagement ring, wedding band, or other jewelries with these diamonds.
Besides these two prominent methods, there are some diamonds that undergo pressure and heat treatment once they are grown. Whoa, aren't the methods interesting? These are the basic techniques using which lab-grown diamonds are formed and sold in the market. Generally, they are colorless, but can find fancy colored diamonds as well.
How fancy colored Lab-Created diamonds are formed?
Fancy and colorful diamonds are formed when there remain some specific trace elements during the growth phase of the diamond. Just like a diamond formed by nature attains its color based on the level of trace elements present in them, fancy lab-grown diamonds are formed manually in the same way. However, be it the colorless diamonds or fancy colored lab diamonds, the exact composition of the trace elements usually differ from that of the natural diamonds.
Since these diamonds resemble the earth-mined diamonds, it really becomes difficult to distinguish them using specialized equipment that have the power to detect minor differences in trace elements and crystal growth. So, study well, learn the tricks to detect the true and then buy your desired lab-grown diamonds.
No comments:
Post a Comment