What is the difference between a natural diamond and a synthetic diamond?

  What is the difference between natural diamond and synthetic diamond?

  Diamonds have very rare characteristics and precious value, is a very popular gemstone, but the reserves of natural diamonds in the world are very rare, therefore, people use artificial technology to produce synthetic diamonds, I believe we also know that natural diamonds and synthetic diamonds are very similar in appearance, but the two are essentially different.

  We first need to understand what is a synthetic diamond, in fact, synthetic diamonds are based on the principle of diamond formation using artificial methods made of gem-quality diamond, synthetic diamonds are not as easy to distinguish as cubic zirconia, artificial strontium titanium stone and other such diamond imitation products, synthetic diamonds and natural diamonds have very similar appearance and characteristics, so if you do not have professional equipment, it is very difficult to be distinguished.

  1. From the luminous characteristics, the fluorescence characteristics of diamonds is a very effective way to distinguish natural diamonds from synthetic diamonds, the two have obvious differences in fluorescence colour and distribution, natural diamonds in the long ultraviolet light exposure is mostly blue fluorescence and a small amount of yellow fluorescence, and in the short ultraviolet no or weak blue, yellow fluorescence, and fluorescence effect is uniform or uneven band distribution. Synthetic diamonds, on the other hand, are inert under long UV light and show moderate to strong yellow-green fluorescence with banding under short UV light.

  2. From the colour point of view, the formation of natural diamond colour has a variety of reasons but all need a very long time, and in the formation process because of differences in the geographical environment will always appear in the shades of colour, the phenomenon of uneven saturation, while synthetic diamonds are formed under high temperature and high pressure rapid growth, although the diamond colour compared to natural diamonds may be more full, but its natural degree is certainly not compared, careful observation can The difference between the two can be seen on closer inspection.

  3. From the inclusions, although natural diamonds and synthetic diamonds are very similar in appearance, but the characteristics of the inclusions presented under the microscope is certainly different, natural diamonds can be seen in some transparent coloured or colourless mineral inclusions, such as garnet, diopside, tenacious fire pyroxene or diamond, etc., while synthetic diamonds contain inclusions characteristic of opaque, rounded, rod-shaped, plate, needle-shaped, etc., a variety of inclusions. plates, needles, etc., various irregularities or small amounts of crystalline form, and show magnetic alloy inclusions.

  4. From the crystal morphology, natural diamonds are distinguished from synthetic diamonds by their crystal morphology, which is characterised by polygonal shapes consisting of octahedra, cubes and, in a small number of crystals, rhombic dodecahedra, tetrahedral trioctahedra and other monomorphs with poorly developed crystal faces. Natural diamonds, on the other hand, often have a monomorphic, polymorphic or irregular (especially blue diamonds) form of octahedra, rhombic dodecahedra. A comparison of crystal morphological characteristics still shows the difference between the two.

  The above four aspects of natural diamonds and synthetic diamonds are introduced from the luminous characteristics, colour, inclusions and crystal morphology. Although synthetic diamonds are very similar to natural diamonds in terms of characteristics and appearance, there is still a great difference in their value, and consumers are advised to distinguish carefully when buying diamond jewellery.