Identifying Lab-Grown Diamonds (Revealed)

Lab-Grown Diamonds are fun, cheap & new means to fashion. But, things get worse when it is misrepresented as natural diamonds. And you end up paying 3000 $ for 300 $ stone. Identifying lab-grown diamonds can be a tough job for untrained eyes.

Recently, I have been offered labmonds ( short name for “laboratory grown diamonds”) as natural diamonds. Supplier salted the natural diamond parcel with labmonds to super maximize their profit pockets. Hence, I came up with this article to educate you. Always spot such stones, examine further and save yourself from faulty purchase.

Identifying lab-grown diamonds for an experienced person is a tough job. In this post, we will figure out ways to suspect labmonds.

Lab-grown diamonds can either created with (CVD) Chemical Vapor Deposition or (HPHT) High-Pressure High Temperature.

Identifying Lab-Grown Diamonds

Following are a few ways that can help you to suspect & identifying lab-grown diamonds. But I highly recommend submitting stone at GIA or another reputed laboratory for further testing.

1. Diamond Type Analysis

Diamond types are classified on the basis of diamond’s chemical composition & atomic structure. Majority of laboratory-grown diamonds are Type IIa diamonds. Laboratory created diamonds cannot be of Type Ia class. It requires high-end equipment to test the diamond’s type. GIA laboratories offer services to check diamonds type.

2. Inspect Color Zoning & Growth Patterns

To identify HPHT diamonds, you should look for color zoning and growth patterns. On polished diamonds, you may encounter Hourglass-shaped graining or marks. Even, you may encounter color zoning when examined carefully under the microscope. On tilting and rocking the stone you may see funnel or cross shape color zoning.

3. Dark Non-Diamond Carbon Inclusion:

HPHT diamonds grow in an iron-based metallic flux. Hence, It might contain dark, opaque remnants of metallic flux it grew in. If you see metallic flux inclusion, suspect it to be a laboratory-grown diamond. Also, keep in mind, It won’t always have inclusions. But, Spotting lab-grown diamond with such inclusion is common for a trained person.

4. Labmonds & Magnet Test

Due to presences of tiny metallic inclusion into labmonds, it attracts towards strong magnets. However, Scientists have successfully able to create metallic-inclusion free diamonds with improved technology. Although this method won’t always work, still you can definitely give it a try. Usually, natural diamonds do not react to a magnet.

5. Diamond Fluorescence & Phosphorescence

Natural diamonds display blue fluorescence under longwave ultraviolet light. Yellow color under Short wave UV light. Whereas, HPHT grown diamonds usually display yellow to greenish-yellow under both UV lights. Another phenomenon to detect labmonds is to check the diamond’s phosphorescent.

Phosphorescence is afterglow effect that remains for a short time even after UV lights is turned off. Natural diamond usually don’t show phosphorescence or afterglow effect. In extremely rare cases natural diamonds have displayed such effects. Suspect diamond if you see afterglow effect because it’s mainly seen in lab-grown diamonds.

Conclusion For Identifying Lab-Grown Diamonds

Above mentioned methods are just for educational purpose. With this laboratory-grown diamonds detecting techniques, you can suspect and send it to the lab for further testing. However, we recommend you to use two or three of the above techniques for identifying labmonds before getting to the conclusion.

Kindly consider sharing this article if you find it worth reading. Also, Let’s help the diamond community and customers together. Got Question? use below comment box, so that everyone can learn from our conversation over comments. Also, don’t forget to share this article on social media.

References – GIA edu