Ada Diamonds offers only laboratory-grown diamonds in our fine jewelry. Ada’s sustainably cultured diamonds have the exact same crystal structure, chemical composition, optical properties, and physical properties as mined diamond.
Ada’s gemstones are graded on the exact same criteria as mined diamonds (the Four Cs), by the same independent gemological laboratories that grade Earth-extracted diamonds. Compared to mined diamonds, Ada’s diamonds have fewer impurities and fewer defects. This makes Ada Diamonds whiter, brighter, and stronger than the vast majority of mined diamonds.
Michaels Jewelers sells synthetic diamonds under a white-label brand, Treasure Chest Grown, to distinguish them from natural diamonds in the same collection. The jewelry chain buys the diamonds from Pure Grown Diamonds, a New Jersey company that produces them in Asia.
There are two methods of growing diamond gemstones:
1. High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT)
HPHT diamond growth occurs within massive pressure cookers. Small diamond seeds are placed into a growth cell, and then graphite is inserted on top of the diamond seeds. The pressure cooker is heated to 1500 degrees C and pressurized to approximately 70,000 times the pressure at sea level.
At this extreme temperature and pressure, the graphite in the growth cell is melted into liquid carbon and then carefully cooled into the strongest form of carbon, a diamond crystal.
2. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD).
CVD diamond growth occurs within vacuum plasma reactors. Thin diamond plates are placed in a growth cell, and then hydrocarbon gas is injected on top of the diamond plates. High power microwaves break the bonds of the hydrocarbon gas, separating the carbon atoms from the hydrogen atoms.
The resulting free carbon within the reactor ‘precipitates’ onto the diamond plates, similar to the way that snowflakes collects on a table, vertically growing the diamond atom by atom.
Each process is best suited for certain sizes and colors of diamonds.
There are approximately 25 million carats of diamond gemstones that are mined, cut, and polished every year, with billions of carats more in existing mines. De Beers estimates its current diamond reserves at 479.7 million carats. To build production facilities large enough to generate one percent of the current mined supply would take hundreds of millions of dollars of capital expenditure to build the facility and tens of millions of dollars a year to run the facility. It will take many years before lab diamonds are anything but an extremely small portion of the total diamond market.
Experts estimate that the Baby Boomer Generation in the United States owns over 500 million carats of diamond gemstones which will be inherited or resold in the next few decades. Ada believes the much larger threat to the value of mined diamonds is the recycling and resale of previously mined diamonds, a space that De Beers recently entered.
2017 saw a considerable rise in the production, consumption as well as adoption of Lab-grown diamonds. Diamond Foundry, a Silicon Valley start-up, opened up a new production facility in San Francisco. A recent study claimed that annual production of Lab-grown diamonds soared to 4.2 million carats, making the market segment an estimated USD 16.2 Billion. Various technological applications involving man-made diamonds were also witnessed in 2017.
Global industrial diamond market was worth over USD 20 billion in 2014. The U.S. and Africa are major diamond producers and account for majority of the share in the market. 40% of the overall materials produced are in the form of diamond powder, which is priced in the range of USD 4,500 to USD 7,500 per kg.
Increasing demand for abrasives in major end-use industries is expected to drive the overall market demand. Synthetic industrial diamonds are preferred over natural forms as their physical properties can be customized as per requirement. Surge in demand for industrial diamonds is balanced by the enormous supply of synthetic diamonds.
The International Grown Diamond Association reports that diamond extraction requires 1.5 billion times more carbon emissions and 480 liters of water compared to synthetic ones that only require 70 liters of water. On the other hand, the lure of lab-grown diamonds increases because the supply of organic ones is depleting at the moment. The market for lab-grown gemstones is expected to hit $27.6 billion in 2023.
Global gems & jewelry market is projected to cross US$443 billion by 2022, on account of booming tourism industry.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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