Lab-grown diamonds are becoming famous day by and have captured the jewellery market slowly. This is because of their affordable price and several other factors. These are some of the important facts and history of lab grown diamonds that you need to know –
Lab-grown diamonds are identical to natural diamonds in their chemical composition and appearance as well. The material by which these synthetic diamonds are made up is pure carbon.
Lab grown diamonds are prepared by exposing carbon to extreme heat and pressure in a laboratory and it takes a couple of weeks to prepare. Natural diamonds are formed using the same process but in natural conditions and require billions of years to make.
The attempt to research lab diamonds is dated in the 20th century. It was only in the 1940s when proper research began in different countries and scientists were finally successful after 14 years i.e. in 1954.
In 1941, an agreement was formed between the general electric (GE) Norton and carborundum companies to make progress in diamond synthesis. These companies were able to heat the carbon to 3000 degrees Celsius under 3.5 gigapascals of pressure for only a few seconds. This progress was interrupted by World War 2 and the research resumed only in 1951 with other companies joining the research.
Gem-quality synthetic diamond crystals were first produced by GE in 1970 and were reported a year later. These gem-quality crystals were first only available in the colour yellow to brown because they had nitrogen in them. And that’s how lab grown diamonds uk took another level over the years.
There are 4 methods by which synthetic diamonds are created, CVD (chemical vapor deposition) and HPHT (high-pressure, high-temperature) are the methods that still dominate the production of artificial diamonds. The third method is known as detonation synthesis, this process was invented in the 1990s. The last process involves treating graphite with high power ultrasound, although this process has no commercial use in the market yet.
The most important quality to look for in a diamond is the absence of crystal flaws. Other important properties involve crystallinity – involves number and size of crystals used to make the diamond, hardness – For diamonds, hardness is defined as resistance to indentation which depends upon the purity, crystalline perfection, and orientation of the diamond, thermal conductivity – thermal conductivity is found to be more in synthetic diamonds than natural diamonds and it totally depends upon the defects and grain boundary structures.
The shares of the synthetic diamond industry are growing day by day. Reports show that in 2019, the diamond market share increased by 15% to 20% because most retail and online jewellery operations are entering the lab-grown diamond domain. Hence, the shares are expected to grow even further in the upcoming years.
• Even the natural diamond-producing companies are shifting towards synthetic diamond production because of their growing demand. This demand is increasing because of its affordability and its eco-friendly nature. You can buy the best quality synthetic diamonds from one of the hatton garden jewellery shops.
