What is Lab-Diamonds
Are Lab-grown diamonds real?
Yes!!
There are two types of diamonds, lab-grown and earth-mined. They have the same sparkle, brilliance, hardness. Both diamonds are real, and they are identical in every way.
The fact is, lab-grown diamonds are exactly the same diamond down to the atoms from which they are constructed.
Lab-grown diamonds (which have also been referred to as lab-created diamonds, diamonds, are man-made diamonds that mirror natural diamonds. lab-grown diamonds display the same chemical and optical characteristics of a natural diamond crystal produced by the geological processes of Mother Nature.
Synthetic diamond prices are generally lower than natural diamonds. Lab-created diamonds grow the same way, only through a man-made process that takes several weeks, not millions of years.
To see the difference between a lab-created diamond and a natural one, you'd have to use professional equipment.
What are HPHT lab-grown diamonds?
The process to create an HPHT diamond (High Pressure High Temperature) was initially developed in the 1950s for industrial purposes. As mentioned above, the HPHT process can also be used to treat mined diamonds to enhance their overall colour and clarity. The process was designed to mimic the pressure and temperatures found within the earth where natural diamond crystals are formed over millions of years. The HPHT process manages to recreate this environment, but allows a diamond to form in a matter of weeks compared to the roughly 150 million years it took to form the world’s natural diamonds!
How are HPHT diamonds made?
Mined diamonds in the earth are created miles underneath the earth’s surface under extremely high pressure and scorching temperatures of over 2000 degrees celsius. An HPHT diamond (High Pressure High Temperature) needs to be created in roughly the same conditions. There are three basic manufacturing processes to create HPHT diamonds: the belt press, the cubic press, and the split beer (BARS) press. With each process the presses create an environment of high pressure and temperature into which a small diamond encased in carbon is left for many days until its formed a full sized diamond.
What are the benefits of HPHT diamonds?
We love HPHT diamonds for their clarity and high-quality colour. There are some small differences between a HPHT vs CVD diamond, but as a jeweller we only procure diamonds that meet our quality standards. Because of this, you’ll only find diamonds with high quality colour and clarity in our lab grown diamonds search tool, regardless of how they were produced. But we do like to let our customers know that any CVD diamonds we offer will have also undergone an HPHT treatment in order to give them the best finish possible.
What are CVD diamonds?
A CVD diamond (Chemical Vapour Deposition) is a recently invented technique in which diamonds are grown from a hydrocarbon gas mixture, similar to how diamonds form in interstellar gas clouds. The CVD process was created in the 1980s and is generally understood to be the less costly method of creating diamonds out of the two as it requires much less energy.
How are CVD diamonds made?
A thin slice of diamond seed is placed in a sealed chamber and heated to around 800 degrees celsius, and then the chamber is filled with other carbon rich gases such as methane. The gases are ionised into plasma using microwaves, lasers, and other techniques. The ionisation breaks down the gases and allows the carbon to merge with the diamond seed, growing the diamond up layer by layer.
What are the benefits of CVD diamonds?
Generally, the CVD process produces lab grown diamonds of a high clarity and colour but it’s good to finish the process with HPHT to bring out the best in the diamond. The CVD process is also less energy intensive, producing more competitively priced diamonds.
HPHT vs CVD diamonds
Ultimately, the key difference between an HPHT diamond and a CVD diamond is that they have different diamond growth patterns. If inspected closely with magnification, a lab diamond expert would potentially be able to tell the difference between an HPHT and a CVD diamond by looking at the crystal structure.
What is better: CVD or HPHT diamonds?
You will not be able to tell the difference between a CVD and HPHT diamond with the naked eye. Both methods can create a beautiful, sparkling diamond. Both the CVD method and the HPHT method will create a real diamond that is optically, chemically, and physically identical to earth-grown diamonds.
At Elope, we will help you to find a lab grown diamond as one-of-a-kind as you are, begin by browsing our selection of shapes: from round to oval, cushion, marquise, pear, emerald-cut, radiant, asscher, princess, or heart.
Next, we will provide IGI, GIA certificate to ensure the lab grown diamonds that you are perusing have grades of cut, color, clarity, and carat weight that align with your standards.