SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS

HPHT / CVD

DIAMOND TREATMENTS
(Enhancement)

DIAMOND SIMULANTS
SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS
HPHT / CVD
In 1797 English chemist Tennant demostrated that
diamond was nothing more than a very dense of
carbon
 HPHT high pressure high temperature
1955 Scientists at General Electric
(A Swedish group had produced synthetic diamonds in
1953 but they didn't announce until 1960)
Within the capsule carbon powder material dissolves in the
molten metal flux and then it crystallized on the seed
 Gem qualities diamond in 1970
33 tons of synthetic diamonds are created for industrial's
applications
 Major producers SWEDEN,USA, JAPAN, RUSSIA,
CHINA
1990 De Beers created 14,2 ct (500 hours) gem quality
synthetic diamond
Elongated or rounded opaque inclusions of
metal flux
Iron, Nichel, Cobalt
Might be attracted to a magnet due to inclusions
of metallic flux
Color zoning related to internal
structure
The DTC (an arm of DeBeers) developed several
instruments in 1990s
DiamondSure, DiamondView
Squares or octagons plus a cross-shaped pattern
Fluorescence – Green, Orange, Blue
Growth lines
CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition)
1980 Apolo
Methane gas put into a vacum chamber then activating
by microwave and breaking down the molecules of the
gas - release carbon atoms
CVD can easily be made colorless
The CVD method is much less costly because it works at
moderate temperatures and low pressure.
CVD grown crystal with a graphitized outer edge
and a brownish color
cut and polished in the same manner as
natural diamonds
CVD HPHT NATURAL
Synthetic diamonds can be laser inscrived on the girdle
to allow to easy preliminary identification
Surgical precision instruments
Diamond drill
Diamond concrete saw
Memorial diamond
 DIAMOND TREATMENTS (Enhancement)
Laser drilling, Francture filling – Clarity
Irradiation, Anneling, HPHT, Coating - Color
Color modification
Combinations of heat and pressure
An enormes range of hues is created by various
kinds of structual defects, such as vacancies
COLOR CENTER
Some clues that you can detect
under magnification
Some cleavages become granular
Some solid inclusions expanded and
become surrounded by bright cracks
 Radioactive radiation+Annealing
A controlled heating and cooling process
Umbrella effect
LPHT
Clarity treatment
Fracture filling
1980's
Glass and lead infused into a
diamond's fracture
Flash effect
Flash effect
NOT PERMANENT TREATMENT
 Laser drilling 1970s
Tiny laser drill hole reachs dark inclusions in diamonds –
vaporize the inclusions with boilling acid and bleach them
Under magnification you can clearly see the
canal
Surface coaing masks true
bodycolor
DIAMOND SIMULANTS
Comparing diamonds and simulants
diamond-like-jewelry
 Natual stone simulants
Rock crystal(Quartz), Topaz
 Herkimer diamonds
mines in Herkimer country NY
Topaz ( Quartz)
Polish luster
Vitreous
Zircon (Matara diamond) Sir Lanka
 Hardness from 6 to 7.5
Facet edges might show chipping
 Polish luster - Vitreous
Dispersion – 0.038 (moderate)
 SG 4.73
Zircon is much heavier than diamonds of simillar size
6.5mm – 1.35ct
SR – light ray enters in the gem and stays as a single ray
which has a singly refractive (Cubic system)

DR – light ray enters in the gem and splits into two

separate rays, Doubly refractive (No Cubic system)
● Doubling effect
 Doubly refractive
Doubling effect might be eye-visible
LABORATORY GROWN MATERIALS
Glass
Metallic Foil back (from the late Baroque period)
Straus
Hardness of Glass 4 to 6
 Polish luster
Vitreous - Adamantine
Warm to the touch
Facet junctions of diamond are always sharp
Conchoidal (shell-like) fracture with vitreous fracture
luster
Gas bubbles
 SR – light ray enters in the gem stays as a single ray
which has a singly refractive (Cubic system)

DR – light ray enters in the gem and splits into two rays,
Doubly refractive (No Cubic system)
 CZ(Synthetic cubic zirconia)
Zirconium+Oxgen Singly refractive
Subadamantine polish luster
 CZ(Synthetic cubic zirconia)
CZ is also manufactured in a variety of
colors
 Skull melting (Russia in1970s)
cup made of copper cylinder filled with powdered zirconium
oxygen and heated until the powder melts – attached to pull
nod and pulling up - cooling down - crystallized
Typical Skull contains about a kilogram of
matterial
Hardness 8.5
Chips and scratches Rounded facet edges (hardness 8.5)
Conchoidal fracture
CZ Diamond
CZ Diamond
Girdle Observation
 SG 5.60 – 6.0
CZ is much heavier than diamonds of simillar size
6.5mm – 1.75ct
 CZ Dispersion 0.060 (Strong fire)
Diamond Dispersion 0.044 (Moderate fire)
Strong fire
 Synthetic moissanite
Doubly refractive - Polish luster
Adamantine- Subadamantine
Moissanite is a natural occurring mineral that is
named after discoverer Henri Moissan in 1906
 The Sublimation temperature 2200c°
Silicon carbide (carbolundum) gose into the gas state.
The gas condenses become solid .
Strong Doubling
Hardness 9.25
Blue green emerald step cut moissanite
Needle-like inclusions Doubling
Greenish bodycolor tint is very
common
Dispersion 0.104 (extreme fire)
SG 3.22
Synthetic Moissanite is a good thermal conductor
Positive reaction to a standard diamond tester