How do you make synthetic diamonds?

Answer 1

Right now the vast majority of lab grown diamonds are used for industrial purposes (drilling bits, heat sinks, etc). As far as how they are grown in simple terms...there are really two ways. Both start with an existing piece of diamond, which serves as the growth base. HPHT methods (high pressure high temperature) surround the diamond seed with a carbon infused liquid, and the carbon atoms slowly migrate to the diamond seed and assmeble themselves on the seed, and thus 'grow'. CVD (chemical vapor deposition) also uses a diamond seed but is done at ultra-low pressure and high temperature. Here, a gas rich in carbon atoms is shredded allowing the carbon atoms to escape and 'rain' down onto the diamond seed...and the carbon then grows on the seed.

Answer 2

There are two main methods - "high pressure, high temperature" (HPHT and also called BARS method), or you can go "ultra low pressure, high temperature (also known as CVD). The HPHT method is the one used by almost all synthetic diamond producers today (both for gem use and industrial use). This process tries to mimic how diamonds are grown under the earth, and uses a diamond seed which serves as the growth template, and then a carbon source and catalysts are added to help it grow. Once you have a finished crystal, you cut off the original 'seed' diamond, and you are left with a nice lab grown diamond. CVD is currently mostly used for coating things with diamond, as there are still a lot of challenges to actually grow a larger single diamond with this method. It also uses a diamond seed, but the carbon is supplied by gas that is then molecularly shredded, and the carbon then 'rains' down onto the diamond seed below and grows. Note that most synthetic diamonds currently being made are also yellow, blue or pink, not white diamonds. There are some fundamental difficulties in growing whites, which I won't detail at this point. I've attached some links to the larger synthetic diamond makers (those growing diamonds for use in jewelry...industrial is a whole different focus). -------------------------- Diamonds are made of pretty pure carbon. Natural diamonds are a crystal which is grown deep underground, usually in or close to volcanos. The process is similar to growing any other crystal, but Diamond requires very very high temperatures and pressures to grow. Most diamonds come up from very deep within the earth carried by the lava flows from volcanos.

Diamonds can be made in factories, by squeezing Carbon in machines at high temperature and pressure, but diamonds made in this way are full of flaws and cannot be used for gemstones. They are instead very useful in industrial tools as an abrasive.

Answer 3

Gemstones are not made, in fact they are raw minerals, crystals that reside in the Earth's crust. We mine these minerals, and then often treat them or heat them, cut and polish them to give them cut, clarity and brilliance.

No actually mate they are not man made they are made of rock colliding together and forming from hundreds of years

Answer 4

That depends on your definition of "fake". Diamond substitutes like cubic zirconia (the crystalline form of Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2)) and any number of patented formulas like Stauer's DiamondAura(TM) are abundant, but are not true synthetic, carbon based diamonds, but are still 'fake diamonds'. Moisannite, quartz, white topaz, and white sapphires can also be manufactured and passed off as diamonds - but they would definitely be "fakes" if you passed them off as diamond.

Yes. It is possible to create REAL carbon crystal diamonds, but it isn't something you will be doing in your backyard anytime soon.

There are several ways this can be done. Just as natural diamonds, synthetic diamonds are created using high pressure and high temperature (HPHT). This can be done with a shaped high explosive charge or more commonly through multimillion dollar, purpose built machines: the belt press, the cubic press, or the split-sphere press (sometimes called a BARS apparatus). The machines generally yield much higher purity diamonds than the explosive method (this has been demonstrated on the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters). REAL diamonds can also be made using Chemical Vapor Deposition, where the diamond is grown gradually by feeding varying amounts of hydrocarbon gases into a chamber and energizing them. The gases are ionized into chemically active radicals in the growth chamber using microwaves, hot filament, arc discharge, welding torch, laser, electron beam, or other means.

On the microscale, diamonds may be formed using ultrasonic cavitation and at room temperature, but these are too small to be viewed with the naked eye.

Answer 5

If the natural gem is an aquamarine, its formation is different from the way diamonds are formed. You can read about the formation of aquamarine, below.

If the gem is a blue diamond and the word aquamarine is used to describe its colour, you can learn more about how it is formed, below.

If the gem is a man-made gem, then it is grown in a laboratory.

Answer 6

A synthetic diamond is created artificially and is also known as man made or lab created diamonds. It is difficult to tell the difference as they are also made from carbon and have the same hardness, refractive index and density as natural diamonds.

Answer 7

Synthetic diamonds are usually made using a method called High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) or Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). In HPHT, carbon is subjected to extreme pressure and temperature to form diamonds, while in CVD, a gas mixture is used to deposit carbon atoms onto a substrate to grow diamonds. These methods can produce diamonds that are chemically and structurally identical to natural diamonds.

Answer 8

Artificial diamonds are created using two types of methods, HPHT and CVD. HPHT stands for High Pressure - High Temperature and CVD stands for Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Answer 9

Sinthetic diamonds are made only from carbon.
False diamonds (not synthetic) are made from glass, zirconium dioxide, silicon carbide.