Lab grown diamonds are diamonds. They are not simulants, fake or inferior to mined diamonds. If carbon crystallises in a cubic structure you get diamond.
Lab Grown Diamonds, also known as Lab Created Diamonds, Engineered Diamonds, Cultured Diamonds and Man Made Diamonds, are grown in highly controlled laboratory environments using advanced technological processes that duplicate the conditions under which diamonds naturally develop when they form in the mantle, beneath the Earthʼs crust.
Man-made diamonds consist of actual carbon atoms arranged in the characteristic diamond crystal structure. Since they are made of the same material as natural diamonds, they exhibit the same optical and chemical properties.
The magic starts with a the tiny carbon seed of pre-existing diamonds. Advanced technology – either extreme pressure and heat or a special deposition process– mimics the natural method of diamond formation.
While people have experimented with diamond growing technology for more than a century, it has only been in the last decade that we've been able to perfect the science of creating gem-quality lab-created diamonds in a modern-day lab. With today's technological advances, we are growing diamonds that are free of conflict and superior in every way to earth-mined diamonds.
PROPERTIES | DIAMOND
Natural DiamondLaboratory Diamond |
PROPERTIES
Cubic ZirconiaMoissanite |
---|---|---|
Chemical composition |
Natural DiamondC Laboratory DiamondC |
Cubic ZirconiaZrO2 MoissaniteSiC |
Crystalline structure |
Natural DiamondCubic Laboratory DiamondCubic |
Cubic ZirconiaCubic MoissaniteHexagonal |
Refractive index |
Natural Diamond2.42 Laboratory Diamond2.42 |
Cubic Zirconia2.2 Moissanite2.7 |
Dispersion |
Natural Diamond0.044 Laboratory Diamond0.044 |
Cubic Zirconia0.066 Moissanite0.104 |
Hardness |
Natural Diamond10 Laboratory Diamond10 |
Cubic Zirconia8.25 Moissanite9.25 |
Density |
Natural Diamond3.52 Laboratory Diamond3.52 |
Cubic Zirconia5.70 Moissanite3.21 |
Thermal conductivity |
Natural DiamondVery high Laboratory DiamondVery high |
Cubic ZirconiaPoor MoissaniteHigh |
The Mohs scale rank minerals by their ability to scratch each other. Absolute hardness is the measure of a material's ability to resist permanent deformation. The Mohs scale is related to absolute hardness but does not measure the same thing because resistance to scratching depends on additional factors. A simplified comparison to absolute hardness shows that the Mohs hardness scale is not linear and is close to being exponential. The hardnesses of the softest minerals are more similar than the hardnesses of the four hardest ones (quartz, topaz, corundum, diamond). Gypsum (H=2) is only slightly harder than talc (H=1), but diamond (H=10) has a hardness five times greater than Moissanite (H=9.25).