Although it is considered by many women as the object of desireGiven their high value, diamonds have only been available to very few. But, thanks to technological advances and the creation of synthetic diamonds, this is changing, making them a new option in jewelry.
Although the term synthetic diamond seems recent, the truth is that the technology for its production has been developing for more than 60 years. Starting from the knowledge that diamond is a mineral composed of pure carbon, many tried to create artificial diamonds, but it would be the North American company General Electric that in 1970 would create the first gem-quality synthetic diamond.
However, the results would not be entirely satisfactory, so the research would continue and it would be in the 90s when synthetic diamonds would begin to take their first steps in the world of jewelry, thanks to improved methods. Something that has currently made it possible to obtain gem-quality and industrial diamonds in different sizes and qualities.. The largest synthetic diamond to date has been a 3.09-carat gem, so it’s safe to say we’ll continue to see larger and larger diamonds in the not-too-distant future.
One of the advantages that synthetic diamonds have compared to natural ones is the possibility of creating them in a short time., thanks to the methods used for its production. The most used are: the high pressure high temperature method or “HPHT” and the chemical vapor deposition method or “CVD”, both for their acronym in English; with the latter, a layer of diamond is obtained that grows 0.5 mm per day, so in a matter of weeks we can obtain a diamond, while the geological processes of nature would take millions of years to crystallize carbon to form a natural diamond.
The second advantage of synthetic diamonds is that they cannot be distinguished from natural ones unless a special spectrometer is used. (DiamondView), as they are physically, chemically, and optically the same; differing only in their formation. Similarly, another of its advantages, and perhaps the greatest, is its sustainable, certifiable and, above all, conflict-free production, which means that its price is between 20 and 50 percent lower than that of natural diamonds. .
Perhaps at this time they do not represent a great enemy to their natural counterpart, since, according to figures from the «Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee» of India, currently about 350,000 carats are produced artificially, while the production of natural diamonds amounts to 125 million carats. But the truth is that synthetic diamonds are here to stay, so only time will tell if they will replace natural diamonds in jewelry.
Given the rise of synthetic diamonds in jewelry, we ask ourselves, will people give up natural diamonds, knowing these data? And will they be able to coexist in jewelry with synthetic diamonds?