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Natural diamonds were formed deep beneath the Earth's surface, when carbon dioxide was exposed to extreme heat and pressure. Lab-grown diamonds use two techniques to replicate that process: High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD).
Ethics
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Dec 18
High Pressure - High Temperature
An HPHT diamond begins as a small diamond seed, which is placed in carbon and exposed to temperatures of around 1,500° C and pressure of 50 times our atmosphere. As a result, the pure carbon melts and begins to form a diamond around the starter seed.
This is science for art's sake
Chemical Vapor Deposition
A CVD diamond starts out as a thin slice of diamond seed, which is place in a sealed chamber and heated to about 800° C. The chamber is filled with a carbon-rich gas like methane, and other gases. The gases are ionized into plasma, breaking their molecular bonds, with the pure carbon adhering to the diamond seed and slowly crystallizing.
Lab-grown diamonds are the fruit of human genius
