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Glittering
Stones >> Synthetic Diamond
Synthetic diamond
Synthetic diamond is diamond, which produced
through chemical and physical processes in a laboratory. Like
physically occurring diamond it is composed of a three-dimensional
carbon crystal. Synthetic diamonds are also called
cultured diamonds, manufactured diamonds, and also artificial
diamonds.
Synthetic diamonds were first produced on February 17, 1954 in
Stockholm, Sweden by the QUINTUS project of ASEA, Sweden's chief
electrical manufacturing company using a bulky apparatus designed
by Balzac von Platen. Weight was maintained within the device
at an estimated 84,000 atmospheres for an hour. A few small crystals
were produced. The discovery was reserved secret.
Nevertheless, General Electric researchers reported their own
winning diamond synthesis in Nature. The production
of lesser synthetic diamonds and particularly diamond dust has
become a significant industry with General Electric at the forefront.
General Electric, along with Sumitomo Electric and De Beers marketed
their synthetic stones as heat sinks for electronics
and old them solely for research purposes. Significantly, the
preponderance of these synthetic diamonds is not of gem
quality. As of 2003, two companies have introduced high-quality
synthetic diamonds to the wide-ranging market.
While visiting Moscow in 1997 someone asked Carter Clarke if
he required buying a diamond making machine. He brought the machines
and the scientists to Sarasota, Florida and started the first
diamond making company, Genesis. Genesis grows
diamonds in high-pressure, high-temperature crystal growth chambers
that resemble washing machines. The machine bathes a tiny sliver
of natural diamond in molten graphite at 1500 ºC and 57,000
atm. This produces a 2.8-carat rough diamond which can be cut
to 1.5 carats. Genesis diamonds have a yellow
tint which is unusual in natural diamonds and therefore a valuable
aesthetic trait.
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