Lab Created Diamonds

Diamonds have been used in jewelry since time immemorial. Diamonds add sparkle to the jewelry. The price of an original diamond depends on its carat, color, clarity and the way it is cut. Diamonds are used to make necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings. Diamond engagement rings are very much in vogue.
Buy diamond jewelry only from a reputed diamond dealer. Else you should know how to differentiate between an original diamond and a synthetic diamond. The synthetic diamonds are man-made or lab-created diamonds.

History of Lab-created Diamonds

Henri Moissan, a French chemist, first initiated the concept of manufacturing lab diamonds or synthetic diamonds in 1893. He created a diamond by heating and then compressing carbon at extremely high temperature in iron crucible. The contents of the crucible were rapidly cooled which caused the iron crucible to shrink and create enough pressure to crystallize the molten carbon into tiny diamond particles.
Though the scientists conducted various experiments, it was General Electric Company who developed gem-grade and industrial-grade diamonds in 1954. They used a process known as high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP). There has been a steady improvement in the quality of lab diamonds since 1954.

Lab-created Diamonds

Lab-created diamonds are known as synthetic, simulated and cultured diamonds. Most of the lab-created diamonds are polycrystalline. The diamonds are graded on the basis of how they are manufactured, cut and polished.
Primarily there are three different types of grades of lab diamonds. They are high, medium and low.

• The low-grade lab diamonds are used mainly in the costume jewelry and on fabrics.
• The medium-grade diamonds are used in the gold plated jewelry.
• The quality of high-grade lab-created diamonds is in line with natural diamonds. High-grade diamonds are used in hallmarked gold and platinum jewelry. Finest quality of synthetic diamonds are considered as gem-quality and are expensive.

Process for Creating Lab Diamonds

There are mainly two types of process for creating lab diamonds. They are chemical vapor deposition and high-temperature high pressure.

Chemical Vapor Deposition: Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) was developed in the '80s. This method uses a low-pressure growth environment. A substrate material (known as diamond seed) is placed in the growth chamber and a combination of heat and pressure is applied to the substrate. Vaporized carbon-plasma combined with hydrogen is deposited on the substrate in successive layers. Chemical Vapor Deposition process is a slow process and it takes several days for the entire process to complete.

High-Temperature High-Pressure: High-Temperature High-Pressure (HTHP) is also known as the GE POL technique. This method uses either a four-anvil (tetrahedral press) or a six-anvil (cubic press) to create the required pressure. The diamond substrate is placed in a growth chamber. Heat and high-pressure is applied to the diamond seed to imitate the natural conditions for the formation of diamonds. The growth process of the diamonds is faster using this technology compared to the CVD. The optical properties of man-made diamonds could be altered using HTHP process and making them resemble the natural diamonds.
To sum up, lab-created diamonds have made it possible for many people to afford diamonds at a price less than the price of the natural diamonds. Lab-created diamonds are available in the shades of white, blue, pink and yellow.    By Maya Pillai