Why Choose Lab Grown Diamonds?
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No Diamond Mining
Unlike natural diamonds that are mined from the earth’s crust, Lab grown diamonds don’t require mining.
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Beautiful & Authentic
Lab grown diamonds maintain the exact same chemical, physical and optical properties as mined diamonds, which means they are equally as beautiful and durable.
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Quality With Value
Opting for a lab grown diamond allows you to get a comparable or higher quality diamond for a lower price than a natural diamond with the same carat weight and qualities.
What is Lab Grown
Diamond ?
Lab grown diamonds, also called lab created diamonds or man made diamonds, are diamonds that are created in a controlled laboratory environment. Lab grown diamonds have the exact same physical, optical, and chemical properties as earths mined diamonds. Lab diamonds have the same carbon atom crystal structure as natural diamonds, which gives them the same superior hardness and spectacular beauty. The only difference between lab grown and mined diamonds is how they are created. Mined diamonds form in the earth’s crust, while lab created diamonds are made in a lab.
Search Lab Grown Diamonds
Just as with mined diamonds, lab grown diamonds come in a wide variety of shapes, carat weights, and qualities. Explore our vast selection of lab grown diamonds and find a diamond with the ideal shape, carat weight, and quality for you.
The Creation Process:
How Lab Grown Diamonds Are Born
When scientists create a diamond in a lab, they replicate how diamonds form in the Earth’s crust. Natural diamonds formed many years ago deep below the Earth’s surface. In the Earth, carbon atoms crystallize due to the intense heat and extreme pressure surrounding them, which creates diamonds.
When scientists replicate this process in a lab, they use one of two methods: high pressure high temperature (HPHT) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
With the HPHT method, scientists start with a diamond seed, a tiny piece of a diamond. They then place this diamond seed into a controlled chamber and surround the diamond seed with pure carbon. Next, they expose these two materials to very high pressures and temperatures. These conditions cause the pure carbon to melt and bonds around the diamond seed. The carbon bonds to the diamond layer by layer, growing each day and eventually creating a lab grown diamond.
Then, there is the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. With the CVD method, scientists also start with a diamond seed. This seed is placed into a sealed CVD reactor chamber, along with a mixture of gasses that contain carbon. This CVD chamber is heated to extremely high temperatures. Once the chamber reaches a certain temperature, the gases within the chamber are ionized with microwave technology. This creates a plasma and, when the chamber reaches temperatures over several thousand degrees, the carbon within the gas begins to separate. As the carbon separates from the rest of the gas, it begins to bond to the diamond seed. Carbon grows over the diamond seed one layer at a time, creating a lab grown diamond.
Whether scientists at a diamond lab use HPHT or CVD, they’re able to control the elements that a diamond seed is exposed to. This allows them to create diamonds of many sizes and also have some control over a lab grown diamond’s qualities. Additionally, scientists can introduce other elements into their diamond lab creation process to create colored lab made diamonds. Natural colored diamonds are very rare, since diamonds must be exposed to certain elements by chance in the earth to take on color. But with the lab creation process, scientists can intentionally introduce other elements to create beautiful colored diamonds in the lab. This is great news for fans of colored diamonds, since it makes it much easier to find colored diamonds in larger sizes (which are extremely rare among mined diamonds).
Explore Settings for Lab Grown Diamonds
Ready to find your lab grown diamond its perfect match? Explore our stunning selection of engagement ring settings for lab grown diamonds. We carry diamond ring settings that can accommodate any diamond shape, including settings for round, princess, cushion, asscher, emerald, oval, pear, marquise, and radiant cut diamonds. We also carry a vast array of styles, which range from classic to modern.
Lab Grown Diamonds are
In fact Not Diamond
Simulants
Any people wonder if lab grown diamonds are a diamond simulant. Diamond simulants are composed of materials that may have the appearance of a diamond but differ highly in quality factors. Lab grown diamonds have the exact same physical and chemical make up as a genuine natural diamond. Therefore, having the same durability and lifetime sparkle which is not true for diamond simulants.
Diamond simulants have a very different chemical makeup from real diamonds. Diamonds are the hardest material in the world and they have many unique qualities, like their unique refraction (which gives them their incredibly beautiful shimmer). Diamond simulants will not have these highly desired properties, so they tend to sell for far less than both lab grown diamonds and natural mined diamonds.
Some common examples of diamond simulants include cubic zirconia and the gemstone moissanite. Both of these clear materials may look like diamonds to the untrained eye. But a jeweler or gemologist will easily be able to tell the difference between a diamond simulant and a diamond just by looking at it with the unaided eye. A jeweler or gemologist will also be able to differentiate in these varying stones by their hardness, differing thermal conductivity, and differing refraction.
How Can You Tell the Difference Between
Lab Created and Natural Diamonds?
A FAQ about lab grown diamonds is “how can you tell the difference between a lab created and a mined diamond?” The truth is that, if you’re not a gemologist, you probably can’t. Since lab grown diamonds have the exact same physical, chemical, and optical properties as mined diamonds. So, they will have the exact same crystal clear beauty and scintillation as earths natural counterparts. Even jewelers inspecting a diamond with a loupe will find that it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between a lab created diamond and a mined diamond. It is possible to tell the difference between lab grown and mined diamonds using highly specialized lab tests, since lab grown diamonds may contain different trace elements than mined diamonds. But these tiny elemental differences are something not visible to view with the naked eye.
While you can’t tell the difference between a lab grown diamond and a mined diamond just by looking at it, you can always see a diamond’s origins on its grading report. Every diamond should come with a gem certification, whether it’s from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the International Gemological Institute (IGI), EGL USA, or another jewelry industry certification organization. If a diamond is lab grown, that will always be noted on its grading report.
Color and Lab Grown Diamonds
One of our favorite things about lab grown diamonds is their color variety. Natural colored diamonds get their color from being exposed to certain elements during the formation process. Since this happens due to chance, natural colored diamonds are very rare. But the lab diamond creation process allows scientists to create colored diamonds on command by adding the right element. For example, the addition of nitrogen will create a yellow diamond and the addition of boron will create a blue diamond.
Colored lab grown diamonds put colored diamonds within reach of more people. Since natural colored diamonds are extremely rare (and large, high quality natural colored diamonds are even more rare), they’re also extremely expensive. But lab grown colored diamonds, like lab grown colorless diamonds, are generally more affordable than natural colored diamonds. This means that more people can choose colored diamonds for their fine jewelry and more people can enjoy wearing gorgeous, richly colored diamonds.
Lab Grown Diamonds vs.
Natural Diamond
Lab grown diamonds vs. natural diamonds: which is better? At Diamond Wish, we believe that both lab grown and natural diamonds are excellent, beautiful options for your diamond jewelry. And whether you prefer one type of diamond over the other is a highly personal choice. That’s why we carry both lab grown diamonds and ethically sourced natural diamonds to allow our customers to select the diamond that’s perfect for them.
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