Making artificial diamonds at home. What are artificial diamonds and how are they different from real ones? Scope of artificial diamonds

Diamonds have long been used as the finest jewelry. Jewelers divide diamonds into almost thousands of grades, depending on the transparency, tone, density and uniformity of color, the presence of cracks, mineral inclusions and some other signs. At the end of the twentieth century, diamonds began to be used in production. At present, the economic potential of the most developed countries is largely associated with their use of diamonds.

What properties of diamond determine its widespread use in the most diverse areas of the national economy? First of all, of course, the exceptional hardness, which, judging by the abrasion speed, is 150 times higher than that of corundum, and ten times better than that of the best alloys used to make cutters. Due to this property, diamond is used for drilling rocks.

For the first time, geologists began to use natural diamonds in drilling for core bits around 1910, with the help of such bits, annular holes were made in the rock, through which the core was extracted - rock samples for analysis. Diamond bits were first introduced for oil drilling in the early 1920s and have been widely used ever since. For bits, natural diamonds are used, not technical, but of gem quality, which are grinded to a special size and give a correct, rounded shape.

The exceptional hardness of diamonds allows them to be used for mechanical processing of a wide variety of materials, for pulling (drawing) thin wires, as an abrasive, etc. ...

More than half of the production of industrial diamonds goes to the manufacture of special tools for the manufacturing industry. The use of diamond cutters and drills for the processing of non-ferrous and ferrous metals, hard and super-hard alloys, glass, rubber, plastics and other synthetic substances gives a huge economic effect in comparison with the use of carbide tools. It is extremely important that this not only increases labor productivity tenfold (even hundreds of times when turning plastics!), But at the same time significantly improves product quality. Surfaces treated with a diamond cutter do not require grinding, there are practically no microcracks on them, as a result of which the service life of the parts obtained increases many times over.

Almost all modern industries, primarily electrical, radio-electronic and instrument-making, use large quantities of thin wire made of various materials. At the same time, strict requirements are imposed on the circular shape and constancy of the diameter of the cross-section of the wire with a high surface finish. Such a wire made of hard metals and alloys (tungsten, chromium-nickel steel, etc.) can only be made using diamond dies. The dies are lamellar diamonds with the finest holes drilled into them.

Diamond powders are also widely used in industry. They are obtained by crushing low-grade natural diamonds, and are also manufactured at special factories for the production of synthetic diamonds.

Diamond powders are used in cutting factories, where all gems, including diamonds, are cut and polished, due to which previously nondescript stones become mysteriously luminous or dazzlingly sparkling jewels, to the unique beauty of which no one will remain indifferent.

Diamond powders are used in diamond circular saw blades, fine diamond drill bits, special files and as an abrasive. Only with the use of diamond powders was it possible to create unique drills that provide deep thin holes in hard and brittle materials.

In diamond, under the action of a charged particle, a light flash occurs and a current pulse arises. These properties make it possible to use diamonds as nuclear radiation detectors. The glow of diamonds and the appearance of pulses of electric current during irradiation make it possible to use them in counters of fast particles. Diamond as such a counter has undeniable advantages over gas and other crystal devices.

In Russia, after the discovery of the Yakut deposits, a diamond mining industry was created. We also produce synthetic diamonds on a large scale. Currently, they are increasingly used in various sectors of the economy.

Synthesized diamonds are not analogous to natural ones. This means that in laboratory conditions, a method for synthesizing diamonds has not yet been developed, similar to that which is implemented in nature.

Synthesis of artificial diamonds was first carried out in 1953 in Sweden and the USA, and in 1959 in the USSR. However, the diamond crystals obtained at that time could only be used as an abrasive material, since the dimensions of individual crystals did not exceed 0.8 mm and had a low mechanical strength. The synthesis of large single crystals of diamond, which was realized much later, is associated with great difficulties of a technical and economic nature. In this respect, the most promising for technical application is the spherical (6-7 mm in diameter) radial-radial shape of diamond or ballas, which has a strength even higher than diamond single crystals and is the easiest to obtain. As a result, the main efforts of the research team were directed towards the synthesis of this modification, which was obtained in 1963 for the first time in the world at the Department of High Pressure Physics and Chemistry.

Testing of synthetic ballas in drilling equipment has shown their high efficiency when drilling wells in a variety of soils, but synthetic ballas is especially widely used now for the manufacture of dies in the production of wire.

Along with the development of methods for the synthesis of diamonds, studies of the physicochemical properties of the substances obtained and the study of the mechanism of their synthesis are carried out. The last problem is of the greatest scientific interest.

Currently, there are three main options for considering the mechanism of diamond formation - the simplest one, describing the crystallization of diamond from a graphite melt in the RT, the diamond stability region (> 100 kbar ~ 2000єC) and two controversial options - crystallization of diamond from a graphite solution in a metal - "catalyst" and phase transition of graphite to diamond in the solid phase in the presence of metals - "catalysts". Both of the latter processes proceed under milder conditions (40-60 kbar, 1400-1600єC) as compared to the "direct" phase transition. Studies of the mechanism of diamond formation on the basis of controversial options, carried out at the department, have shown their equal probability. The implementation in practice of this or that mechanism will be determined by the nature of the carbon-containing raw material (for example, its tendency to graphitization), or the nature of the catalyst metal, for example, the ability to form carbide and the stability of carbide forms in the RT region of diamond synthesis, or some other reasons.

The first estimates of the conditions for the transformation of graphite into diamond, made by O.I. Leipunsky (1948), showed that such a transition is possible at a pressure of P = 6 GPa and a temperature of T = 2300єK. At present, diamonds are synthesized using various technologies determined by the phase diagram of carbon in pressure - temperature (P-T) coordinates in the region of the thermodynamic stability of diamond at P> 4 GPa, T> 1270єK; in metastable conditions for diamond at Р from 1 to 100 GPa and Т from 870 to 1070єK. In the first case, synthesis occurs in the condensed phase (pressures are either static or dynamic). In the second case, the formation of diamonds occurs as a result of the condensation of carbon from the gas phase.

Thus, due to the unique properties, and, above all, the extraordinary hardness and wear resistance, natural and artificial diamonds are widely used in modern technologies and mechanisms. But the most famous and popular is the use of natural diamonds for making diamonds and jewelry. Diamonds are still the most widely purchased gemstones. In recent years, Russia has held record positions in diamond mining (Appendix 5). In 2006 alone, Russia exported $ 1.7 billion worth of diamonds, of which 78% went to the EU countries.

It is now well known that diamond is a modification of high pressure carbon. Industrial diamonds are now produced at enormous pressures (40-60 thousand atmospheres) and temperatures, i.e. under conditions close to the natural process of diamond formation from the point of view of the mantle theory of the origin of diamonds.

However, in the course of our research, we managed to find out that the mantle theory is not the main one in scientific views on the problem of the origin of diamonds. Moreover, facts and processes are described that contradict the main provisions of this theory. To date, there is not a single hypothesis that would fully and scientifically reliably describe the process of natural formation of diamonds.

At the same time, all the physicochemical properties of diamonds have been studied in detail and described in the scientific literature. The unique properties of diamonds make it possible to use these minerals in various sectors of the economy. The purest and largest diamonds are of great gem value.

It seems that the De Beers brand has decided to follow the well-known diplomatic principle “if you can't suppress a riot - lead it” and become a monopoly not only on the market for natural diamonds, but also on artificially grown stones. Especially for this purpose, the Lightbox brand was created, which will sell jewelry only with stones grown in laboratory conditions. Simple, unpretentious design, cheap - for every day.

“Synthetic diamonds are nothing more than a fad and fashion,” says Bruce Cleaver, CEO of De Beers. "They are not suitable for celebrating significant events in your life that I would like to remember for a long time." He is echoed by the company's CFO Nimes Patel: “These stones are not unique. If you lose your synthetic diamond jewelry, you are unlikely to be very upset. By the way, this is a great alternative for decorating a child. "

In general, when launching a new brand, the De Beers speakers did everything in their power to make the reputation of laboratory diamonds go down nowhere. And this despite the fact that back in September 2017, the company officially announced that it would never sell artificially grown diamonds, which was just understandable and understandable: otherwise it would look like a cannibalization of its own business.

Are there any differences?

The topic of artificially grown diamonds has been actively heated up over the past two years. The only question that has been worrying the public all this time is: "How do they differ from natural ones?"

The correct answer is practically nothing. Pure carbon. Compressed by a million years of geological processes or compressed by vapor deposition in a laboratory. Moreover, directly for the formation of a diamond in both natural and artificial environments, it takes approximately the same time - two to three weeks. It was just that the natural then "a little more" lay in the earth's crust. The chemical composition is the same. So is the crystal structure. In terms of visual identity, colorless synthetic diamonds cannot be distinguished from natural ones even by an expert under 15x magnification. With special training, it may suspect - but no more.

“Actually, this is not entirely true,” says an independent jewelry expert who has worked for De Beers for 35 years. “When cutting, the master easily distinguishes between a natural diamond and a diamond grown in a laboratory - for a trained eye, the structure is noticeably different.”

Actually, it was precisely in order to study the diamonds grown by man in all the details that the De Beers company a couple of years ago organized its own Element Six laboratory for the cultivation and study of synthetic diamonds in the British Berkshire.

Dimitri Otis / gettyimages.com

Today, most laboratory-grown diamonds are trying to pass themselves off as natural, which required such extensive and costly research from De Beers.

The bad news is that if the artificial stone was not found by experts at the jewelry production level, then in the store you will not be able to determine it. The good news is that it’s unlikely that someone else will do it, so you never know that you have been deceived. But the very opportunity itself makes not so much buyers nervous as much as experts and jewelers - after all, the reputation.

How much is it?

And now the main point of De Beers' trick with the Lightbox brand. Before the brand was launched on the market, jewelry with artificial diamonds was sold by several American companies (which also produced them), and at a price only 30% lower than the cost of natural stones.

Environmental friendliness and ethics of laboratory stones became the main marketing distinction and a lure for buyers. In all other respects, the new players used the same promotion idea (“value for important moments in life”), similar design, the same cuts. Simply put, "synthetics" tried to play on the field of natural diamonds. That is, it claimed a piece of the fat market, which for years of expensive advertising campaigns fed De Beers, instilling in buyers the desire to invest in diamonds, paying for stones much more than their real value.

"Synthetic" or "Human Grown"?

Synthetic diamonds appeared on the market in an extremely unfortunate reputational format: trying to mimic natural ones within the framework of a large batch of natural small diamonds weighing up to one and a half carats. And this, like any petty fraud, could not generate confidence in the idea as a whole.

However, artificial diamonds quickly rose to the status of small jewelry brands that care for the environment and ethics. The most famous of them are Diamond Foundry (investors Leonardo DiCaprio and Miroslava Duma), Orro, Gordan Max, Innocent Stone, Carat and a dozen others. Most of the factories are located in America and Asia, although there is one laboratory in Sestroretsk that is quite well-known among professionals - it was here that the largest artificial blue diamond weighing 5 carats was grown two years ago.

Through joint efforts, the idea of ​​a kind of uniqueness and value of synthetic diamonds was successfully conveyed to journalists, who grabbed onto the idea of ​​innovation and ethics, and then to consumers.

Diamond mining companies have banded together to try to convince the public that synthetic stones have "no soul, no divine touch." Advertising campaigns “Real is rare, real is diamond” were launched on the market. At the same time, the advertisement shows a 20 carat stone of unique clarity and transparency, and the advertising campaign itself, as we understand it, is designed for buyers of quite ordinary diamonds with a maximum of up to two carats, which can hardly be classified as rare. But here's the paradox: the more jewelers and mining companies talked about the difference in properties, "rarity" and "uniqueness" of natural stones, the more they contributed to the popularization of synthetic ones. By the end of the year, the press had changed its tone from condescending to respectful: the epithet "synthetic" with a clear negative connotation was supplanted by the more attractive one - "grown by man." The diamantaires were seriously worried.

De Beers has two simple goals in launching Lightbox. The first is to create a reputation for synthetic diamonds on the level of rhinestones - fashionable, cheap, frivolous. And the second, much more important, is to lower their cost. If in the last two years the prices for synthetics were 30% lower than the market value of natural stones (that is, actually at the level of exchange prices), then Lightbox will sell jewelry at a price 85-90% lower than the cost of natural diamonds - at $ 200 per stone a quarter carat and $ 800 per carat. For comparison, according to the August 2018 Rappaport newsletter, a 0.5 carat medium-quality natural diamond costs about $ 1,500, and 1 carat costs between $ 4,000 and $ 6,000, depending on the characteristics. So far, De Beers' plan resembles a short victorious blitzkrieg, but time will tell.

Scientists from the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for the Synthesis of Mineral Raw Materials encountered an unexpected phenomenon. By the usual method of high temperatures and pressures, they grew artificial diamonds.... This time, the purpose of the experiments was to find out how excess nitrogen affects the properties of diamond, and in order to introduce more nitrogen into future crystals, 5 to 20% manganese nitride Mn 4 N was added to the mixture of metals - carbon solvents.

The crystals obtained did indeed contain more nitrogen than usual (by two to three orders of magnitude!). They were real artificial diamonds however, there were very few single crystals of ideal shape with a cubic lattice among them. On the other hand, almost 20% of all diamonds turned out to be twin intergrowths rather than single crystals. Some anomalies in the physical characteristics were also observed, in particular, weak anisotropy (inhomogeneity) of the optical properties.

Most of the "deviations from the norm" are due to stresses in the crystal lattice due to the addition of nitrogen. But how do you explain the unusual coloration of most crystals? The researchers received not yellow, as usual, but thick green transparent artificial diamonds.

Application of artificial diamonds

Diamond glass cutters

The use of diamond to cut glass is the oldest practical use of this mineral. The most common tool for this purpose is the diamond glass cutter, which consists of a diamond crystal cut in the form of a regular four-sided pyramid, fixed in a metal holder, and a brass hammer with a wooden handle. For the manufacture of glass cutters, diamonds weighing 0.02-0.20 carats of dense structure without defects are used.
Different glass cutters are used depending on the thickness of the glass. For example, for cutting glass with a thickness of up to 5 mm, glass cutters are used, where the weight of the crystal is from 0.02 to 0.12 carats, and with a thickness of up to 10 mm - from 0.12 to 0.20 carats.
The performance of the diamond glass cutter is very high. With a diamond weighing 0.1 carats, for example, you can cut 100,000 linear meters of glass. Carbide glass cutters do not provide such productivity.

Dental instrument

In addition to the listed methods of technical application, diamond is also used in medicine, mainly in dental treatment.
Tooth enamel is close to quartz in hardness. Therefore, very hard materials are needed to process it. The tools used with silicon carbide have insufficient hardness; they also cause pain. The use of diamond tools eliminates these disadvantages.
The possibility of a significant increase in the number of revolutions of drills for processing a tooth with a low force of pressure on it is created. Pain when using a diamond tool is minimized.
We briefly talked about the most important areas of application of diamonds in technology. However, this does not exhaust all areas of its use. Diamond is used for many other purposes, and this area of ​​its use is increasing every year.
The use of diamond in technology makes it possible to dramatically increase labor productivity and reduce the cost of production, facilitate the automation of production, obtain parts of exceptional precision and cleanliness, as well as save huge amounts of money.
Finally, a man found a real place in life for a diamond, made it work for himself. And for us now a diamond in a working overalls is much more valuable than a diamond in a sparkling crown.

Diamond drawing

The drawing process is a method of processing metals by pressure, which consists in pulling rolled, less often forged products of a round or shaped profile through a hole, the cross-section of which is less than the cross-section of the original product. As a result of drawing, the transverse dimensions of the product decrease, and the length increases. This process is especially widely used for the manufacture of fine wire from non-ferrous metals. The considered method of metal processing was known as early as 3-3.5 thousand years BC. In those early days, drawing was used to make gold and silver wire for jewelry. This wire was called gimp. Hence, the expression "pulling the gimmick" has firmly entered our everyday life, that is, slowly, monotonously doing something.
This expression was explained by the technology of making wire in ancient times. Then all the equipment consisted of a drawing board, fixed between two posts, and pincers, which were tied to the belt of a worker sitting in a swinging cradle. The worker pulled himself up to the drag, grabbed the end of the wire passed through it with pliers, rested his bent legs against the posts and, straightening them, stretched the wire. He swayed until he pulled out a wire of the required diameter and size.
In order to draw a wire of the required diameter, the dies must be made of a very strong material that is difficult to deform. The dies were made of hard alloys, which could not withstand stress for a long time and quickly failed.
With the introduction of diamonds in technology for drawing thin wires, diamond dies (dies) began to be used. Through such dies, it became possible to draw wire of precise diameter - from 0.001 to 2 mm.
The use of diamond dies ensures a high surface quality and an accuracy of the diameter of the drawn wire, since the diamond is difficult to abrade. With diamond drawing, you can get a thin wire with a diameter of 9-10 microns. The durability of diamond dies is 100-300 times higher than that of carbide dies, depending on the diameter of the die. When drawing copper wire, the durability of diamond dies, expressed in kilometers of drawn wire, is 25-30 thousand km, while the durability of hard-alloyed ones is only 100 km. Through one diamond die, a wire of such length can be pulled, which can gird the earth around the equator several times.
A diamond die is a diamond crystal cut in three planes, fixed in a metal frame, with a drilled and polished channel in the center.
The weight of the diamonds for the die is selected depending on the diameter of their holes. GOST 6271-60 sets the weight of dies for dies.
Wire drawing at domestic factories is carried out on single and multiple drawing machines. In the first, the wire is pulled through one die, and in the second, through several sequentially located dies. The most widely used machines are multiple drawing machines, which are distinguished by their high productivity.

Diamond tips

The modern level of mechanical engineering is characterized by the use of a wide variety of high-strength and wear-resistant materials. Their important quality is hardness. Therefore, in the metal and mineral processing industry, hardness testing is the most widely used.
Several methods are used to determine the hardness of metals and minerals. According to the Brinell and Rockwell methods, the test is carried out by pressing a steel ball into the material to be tested; according to the Vickers method, a pyramid-shaped diamond crystal is used for this purpose; according to the Mohs method, hardness is determined by scratching a mineral, metals and minerals, their resistance to deformation is determined when a ball or pyramid is pressed. In this case, a certain deformation occurs not only in the tested material, but also in that which is being tested. Diamond is not subject to deformation and therefore it meets the requirements for the design of instruments for determining the hardness of minerals and metals.

A synthetic diamond is literally a suitably cut artificial diamond. It is believed that the characteristics of artificial diamonds are not inferior to the real ones.

In a figurative sense, artificial diamonds are various substitutes for a precious stone that is less valuable, similar to a diamond in color, iridescence, brilliance. Such substitutes for natural diamond include synthetic cubic zirconia, moissanite, Swarovski crystals and the like. They are used for jewelry purposes, but do not have the properties of a true diamond.

In some cases, natural crystals act as an imitation of a diamond, for example, a yellow beryl stone (if you need to imitate yellow diamonds), colorless sapphire or other natural gemstones. They cost less than a diamond.

The use of imitation or cultured diamonds in jewelry is not considered fake if the seller writes this information on the price tag.

At the same time, the price does not always have to be lower - the cost of man-made diamonds is comparable to a real diamond.

Short story

The first reports on the receipt of artificially grown diamonds began to arrive in the world scientific community at the end of the 19th century, but most of them were false.

The crystals obtained, in contrast to natural ones, differed in a different chemical composition, did not consist of carbon and did not possess the properties of diamond, which primarily include:

• the maximum hardness among all known substances is 10 according to Mohs;
• high thermal conductivity;
• high light dispersion;
• low thermal expansion;
• chemical inertness;
• low coefficient of friction;
• high electrical resistance.

Simply put, diamond is the world's hardest dielectric (a substance that does not pass current), which heats up very quickly, but practically does not expand from heating.

Natural diamond is an inert substance that does not react with alkalis and acids under normal conditions.

At high temperatures, the diamond flares up and burns, turning into graphite soot.

Ironically, diamond is made up of carbon, the same substance as graphite, which has a Mohs hardness of 1. The properties of diamond are due to a different atomic structure.

For the first time, real diamonds were learned to get in Sweden in 1953. The technologies of diamond synthesis invented at that time were based on the reproduction of the natural conditions for the formation of this mineral. It was necessary to recreate high pressure and temperature - 60 thousand atmospheres and 1.5 thousand degrees Celsius in order to obtain the ideal diamond structure.

Manufacturing technologies

At the moment, true man-made diamonds, the cutting of which turns them into diamonds, are grown in two main ways. They are called HPHT and CVD methods respectively.

The first name is an English abbreviation, which means “high pressure, high temperature”. This method can be used to obtain crystals of regular cubic or dodecahedral shapes.

The essence of the method: a workpiece made of graphite and a specially selected low-melting metal is placed in a structure of several multi-ton presses, squeezing it from all sides and simultaneously heating it. The metal melts, graphite dissolves in it, excess metal is removed, and upon further compression, diamond is formed.

The disadvantage of this method is that only crystals of the same size and shape can be obtained at the same installation.

The high temperature and pressure processing method is used for industrial diamond stamping.

In translation, CVD stands for "chemical vapor deposition". The meaning of the phenomenon is in growing a diamond film on a hydrogen-carbon workpiece. Significantly lower pressure and temperature are required here.

Chemical deposition can produce both colorless diamond and other colors by adding some metal inclusions to the gas chamber.

After the end of the process, the result needs to be polished and cut, but in this way even an artificial black diamond can be obtained.

There are a number of more exotic methods for producing synthetic diamonds, for example, synthesis by detonation of explosives containing carbon, and sonication - ultrasonic cavitation.

However, such methods can only produce nano- and microcrystals that do not even reach one carat. They are used in industry, for example, for the manufacture of diamond-coated cutting tools.

Only 2-3% of all diamonds obtained in a factory or laboratory are cut like diamonds and used for jewelry. The bulk of synthetic crystals is taken by industry.

Nevertheless, there was a fashion for jewelry with man-made diamonds. It spread mainly among the followers of Greenpeace.

Artificial crystal colors

Diamonds obtained using the CVD or HPHT method are most often either colorless or have a blue or yellow tint.

These colors are obtained by reacting boron (blue) or nitrogen (yellow). It is difficult to grow a completely colorless high-purity diamond due to the large amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere. The record was set in 2015, and the crystal weighed just over 10 carats.

An artificial diamond is called grown, not synthetic, because in terms of chemical composition, properties and characteristics, it is completely identical to natural ones. Synthesis methods imply a different structure of the obtained samples.

The market for grown diamonds operates legally.

A rule is gradually being introduced - on products with natural stone substitutes grown in artificial conditions, a corresponding mark is put by the laser engraving method, which contains the name of the manufacturer and the serial number of the diamond. This practice has already been introduced by the manufacturer Gemesis from the United States.

It is possible to distinguish an artificial diamond from a natural one using special testers that transilluminate the stone in ultraviolet, infrared or X-rays.

In their spectrum, an insignificant amount of nitrogen or metal impurities, uncharacteristic for the creations of nature, is found.

Astrological meaning

Since artificial diamonds are completely identical to natural diamonds, they can be worn by the same zodiac signs as natural diamonds. These are stones of Fire, and they "love" mainly people of their element - Sagittarius, Lvov and Aries. Among them, a diamond, including an artificial one, especially distinguishes Aries.

Wearing diamond jewelry is contraindicated for the antipodes of Fire - signs of the element of Water, especially for Pisces.

Zodiac sign	Compatibility
Aries	+++
Taurus	+
Twins	+
Cancer	+
a lion	+
Virgo	+
scales	+++
Scorpion	+
Sagittarius	+
Capricorn	+
Aquarius	+
Fishes	+

("+++" - fits perfectly, "+" - can be worn, "-" - absolutely contraindicated)

Diamond substitutes

In jewelry, the "king of jewelry" has several similarities of natural and synthetic origin.

They are used legally, and in this case, the relevant information is indicated on the price tag, and the price is proportionally reduced. Unfortunately, due to the high cost of diamonds and polished diamonds, its similarities are used to make fakes.

The main analogues of a diamond:

• Gerkmeier - a quartz crystal, naturally similar to a cut diamond, is mined in the USA;

• natural and synthesized rutile;

Natural rutile

• colorless sapphire;

• corundum (a type of spinel);

Corundolite, a type of spinel

• strontium titanate;

• yttrium alumina garnet;

• rhinestone;

• zircon;

• cubic zirconia;

• moissanite;

• Swarovski crystals.

The cheapest counterfeits are made of glass, but they are found less and less, as they are easily recognized even by an amateur jeweler.

The most common

Cubic zirconia and moissanite are the most popular in the market for minerals that most closely imitate diamonds.

Cubic zirconia is a 100% synthesized substance that does not occur in nature.

It is zirconium dioxide, a rare metal. Zirconium is mined from zircon stones, which are called "younger brothers of diamonds".

Cubic zirconia is a transparent crystal with dispersion and light refraction indices close to those of a diamond. Has a diamond sheen. The name is widespread in Russia, it comes from the name of the institute (FIAN), where this substance was first synthesized. Abroad it is called zirconite. Therefore, confusion often arises - the product of the chemical synthesis of cubic zirconia is confused with the metal zirconium and natural stone - zircon, which also looks like a yellowish diamond.

Jewelers distinguish cubic zirconia from diamond by weight - it is higher in zirconite, and also in terms of thermal conductivity - it is much less than that of diamond. Its hardness is lower than diamond, the upper limit is 8.5 according to Mohs.

Moissanite is a natural mineral named after its discoverer Henri Moissan.

From a chemical point of view, this is silicon carbide, it is also carborundum. Despite the fact that it was discovered as a natural substance, in nature it is as rare as diamond. But it's easy to synthesize.

Silver earrings with moissanite

Synthesized moissanite is often used as an alternative to diamond or cubic zirconia. Hardness - up to 9.25 Mohs. Once cut, it shines stronger than each of these crystals. Its refractive indices are higher than that of a diamond, but it can have birefringence (splitting the beam passing through the crystal in two), which is never the case with a diamond.

It can be distinguished from a faceted diamond by its birefringence, greenish-gray luster of the trait, and higher electrical conductivity than diamond. It is also detected by ultraviolet radiation, in which moissanite glows orange-red.

The third widespread analogue of a diamond is high-quality rhinestones, which are obtained from lead glass or acrylic polymer, less often from rock crystal.

The highest quality rhinestones are made by Swarovski in Austria and Preciosa in the Czech Republic.

Attempts to create a laboratory diamond have been going on since the 1950s, but the real revolution is taking place right before our eyes. Recently, two main technologies have improved markedly: the creation of diamonds under conditions of high temperature and pressure (HPHT) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), when a plasma of carbon atoms, from which atoms condense layer by layer onto a substrate, forming a diamond. HPHT technology is already producing diamonds of 5 carats. Since 2003, CVD technology has gone from creating very small diamonds of 0.3 carats to completely transparent stones of 3 carats with very good optical properties. Diamonds created using CVD technology are practically free of foreign impurities such as nitrogen or boron, which gives them advantages even over natural diamonds for both industrial and jewelry use.

Along with the improvement in the quality and size of laboratory diamonds in recent years, startups from the Valley have entered the race with multimillion-dollar investments in marketing and celebrities as shareholders. They were able to invest huge sums of money to undermine the position of sellers of natural diamonds. Analysts predict the lab-grown diamond market will grow by about 7.4% annually, from $ 16.2 billion in 2015 to $ 27.6 billion by 2023.

Less and less often the media calls synthetic diamonds fakes, and the natural diamond industry has to release more and more advanced devices for identifying artificially grown stones: DiamondCheck, DiamondSure and DiamondView. However, even the most advanced GIA scanners cannot always distinguish artificial stones from natural ones.

So far, artificially grown diamonds occupy 1-2% of the market, but in the future, their share may significantly increase, according to experts' forecasts, up to the dominant one. At the same time, more than 95% of the diamonds used in the industry are already grown in the laboratory (the rest are sold for use in jewelry).

What is the difference between natural and synthetic diamonds?

One of the significant differences between natural diamonds is crystal lattice defects, which give the stones their color. For example, yellow is a consequence of the dissemination of nitrogen atoms, brown and pink tints of the stone are the consequences of the curvature of the crystal lattice. At the same time, by controlling the process of creation, in artificial diamonds it is possible to achieve a crystal lattice close to ideal, and the purity of the carbon content in them can reach 99.999%.

But if the parameters of clarity are especially important for the B2B-use of diamonds, then for gemstones, the clarity of the stone can hardly be called a decisive factor. Rather, price and marketing are key here.

When will artificial diamond be put on jewelry store shelves?

There are several obstacles to increasing the share of synthetic diamonds in the jewelry market. Many of the world's jewelry houses do not understand that artificially grown diamonds can be sold as a standalone product. Instead, they sell them under the guise of natural. Often the sellers are not to blame for this.

Unscrupulous dealers buy artificial diamonds in order to "mix" laboratory-grown stones with real ones. In the case of a diamond up to 0.3 ct in size, it is very difficult to distinguish between a stone grown in a laboratory and a natural one, and this is what they use.

To avoid forgery, large chains (Tiffany, Cartier and others) strictly monitor the entire supply chain, from stone mining to inlay.

I suppose one of the reasons why sellers are not ready to put artificial stones on the shelf next to natural ones is their reluctance to create a market from scratch. Startups such as Diamond Foundry or Ada Diamonds have taken on this task. They are investing millions of dollars in marketing and attracting top stars to show the market that artificial diamonds can be shelved next to natural ones. The idea of ​​laboratory diamond producers is to create a new market instead of directly competing with the diamond mining industry. If jewelry chains begin to clearly distinguish between synthetic stones and natural ones, then the buyer will have a choice: to buy a natural stone more expensive or a synthetic one - cheaper. The difference in price will pay for the emotional component.

Two different markets and products

It is important to understand that the appearance on the market of two types of stones - artificial and natural - is aimed at two fundamentally different markets. With different audiences and different positioning and marketing.

A century-old history and completely different marketing messages have been invested in the traditional industry of diamond mining and processing. It seems incredible, but the positioning of a diamond as an unconditional luxury attribute has become a systematic work of all the same diamond mining companies. Back in the 50s of the last century, De Beers began to pursue a marketing policy to create a single positioning for a diamond: a diamond is an irreplaceable attribute of the concept of “love”, a diamond is “forever”. Suffice it to recall the seventh James Bond film, which was called "Diamonds Are Forever" (De Beers slogan). Artificial stones have a different philosophy and values ​​that have to be created from scratch.

To counter the marketing machine of diamond miners, Diamond Foundry hits one of the main "pain points" of diamond miners: at the suggestion of one of the company's shareholders, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, they talk about the problems of illegal diamond mining in disadvantaged regions of the world (Sierra Leone, Angola, Congo ). And they point to the unethical nature of the diamond mining process itself.

The main obstacle to the massive emergence of companies like Diamond Foundry is the high entry barriers to entry. According to our estimates, in one of the first Russian companies to enter the world market, NDT (New Diamond Technologies, create diamonds based on the HPHT method) invested at least $ 60 million. creating diamonds) - about $ 100 million. We even estimate the launch of a research center for a company working on CVD technologies at more than $ 15 million.

Due to the high volume of investments in R&D, the technology for the production of synthetic diamonds is actually owned by only about a dozen companies worldwide. All of them are located in the USA, Singapore, China and Russia. Entering the artificial diamond market is expensive and difficult, but it is one of those multi-billion dollar markets where Russian laboratories and industries have a chance to get a significant share.