Man Made Diamonds: The Creation of Diamonds in Laboratories
The little-known fact about lab grown diamonds is that these gem stones are identical to natural diamonds with origin being the only difference. The difference in origin is based on the fact that natural diamonds are the product of geological processes over millions of years that transform carbon into precious stones, whereas lab diamonds are subjected to the same processes and created in less than a month.
The creation of lab diamonds in controlled environments using state-of-the-art technology produces diamonds that are of the same quality (sometimes even better quality) and beauty, to the extent that a diamond shop will not be able to tell the difference between lab and natural diamonds unless they use a microscope. With a microscope, one would be able to note traces of nitrogen in natural diamonds, but are not present in lab diamonds which actually render lab diamonds purer than natural diamonds.
For those of you are are curious how a bunch of lab technicians are able to create these gem stones rather quickly and without the help of mother nature, this article explains in brief how these diamonds are created in a laboratory.
Typically, there are two primary methods that are used to create lab diamonds which are identical to natural diamonds as far as the chemical, physical and aesthetical characteristics are concerned. These two methods are the High-Pressure High-Temperature (HPHT) and the Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) methods that imitate the natural processes that Mother Nature subjects carbon atoms to in order to create natural diamonds.
HPHT (High Pressure High Temperature) Method
The High-Pressure High-Temperature (HPHT) method has actually been in existence since the 50s, it was the first diamond production process that was developed for industrial purposes, over time, repeated redesigns resulted in the process being used to not only create lab grown diamonds but also used to improve the quality of naturally mined diamonds in terms of clarity and colour hues.
The procedure mimics the intense pressures and temperatures deep in the earth that are responsible for the development of diamond crystals over billions of years in a matter of weeks. There are three main methods within the scope of HPTP which are the split beer, the cubic, and the belt press where a small diamond seed wrapped in carbon is subjected to high pressure and high temperature within a chamber for a few days.
The heat and pressure cause the carbon to melt and a diamond is formed around the small initial seed and grown to full size.
CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition)
This process varies from the HPHT method based on the fact that the gems are formed through the use of hydrocarbon gas which is a recent technology. This technology mimics the formation of diamonds inside interstellar gas cloud compositions.
Developed in the 80s, this method is a much cheaper method to curate diamonds attributed to the lower use of energy compared to the HPHT method. The process also uses a small slice of diamond (seed) in a chamber heated to about 800° degrees Celsius filled with carbon rich gasses.
A small slice of diamond seed is heated to a temperature of around 800° degrees Celsius in a sealed container before being filled with other carbon-rich gasses, such as methane allowing the diamond to form layer by layer on the seed.
