Synthetic Diamonds
What are Synthetic Diamonds?
Synthetic diamonds are manmade and created in labs. Synthetic diamonds look almost identical to natural diamonds. According to the president of ALTR Created Diamonds, "Created diamonds are real diamonds. They are just as real as the beautiful flowers from the greenhouse" (Turner).
How are Synthetic Diamonds Made?
Synthetic diamonds can be created by two means: high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) and chemical vapor depositions (CVD). HPHT is similar to how diamonds are created underground. Like its name implies, HPHT uses high pressure and high temperature to make carbon atoms build upon a man-made or natural diamond seed. By contrast, CVD takes place in a vacuum. It breaks down carbon-rich gas into carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) and those atoms are used to build on a diamond seed (Turner).
How are Synthetic Diamonds Better Than Naturally Created Diamonds?
Synthetic Diamonds take less time to create than naturally made diamonds, which causes them to be 30-40% cheaper. Synthetic Diamonds are more eco-friendly than when obtaining natural diamonds in terms of not directly adding to soil erosion or deforestation. Also, buyers don't have to worry about the same ethical issues, such as whether they are buying conflict or blood diamonds, when buying synthetic diamonds (Turner).
How Common are Synthetic Diamonds?
Though the idea of synthetic diamonds or synthetic gems in general isn't new, synthetic diamonds only make up 1% of the global rough diamond supply (Turner).