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Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

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Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#111

Post by adrian_b »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #61
spondylosaurus wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also curious about this. Especially since natural rubies and natural sapphires are the same type of gemstone, just in different colors. It sounds like the synthetic equivalents might not be similar at all!

The synthetic equivalents have to be similar, because they're the same thing as the natural stones, and the natural stones are similar. A ruby is corundum with chromium coloring it; a sapphire is corundum with (most typically) iron coloring it. Iron isn't rare, so either it affects the process used to make rubies, or there's no real reason for the price gap.

Iron is not enough for sapphires, it must be combined with titanium.

I do not know how this is done, but while the doping with chromium for rubies is simple, chromium will just substitute aluminum in the crystal lattice and it will provide a color determined by its concentration, for sapphires there may be necessary a more complex thermal treatment, so that the iron and titanium will form the right type of coupled defects in the crystal, in order to have the desired color.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#112

Post by TylerE »

crazygringo wrote: post #81
rowanG077 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Natural diamonds are the inferior product in every way.

For the same reason you can make a print of a classic painting, and digitally brighten and re-saturate the colors to counteract the darkening and yellowing of the original with age. Remove all of the cracking too. And you'll still only be able to sell the print for tens of dollars, while the original is worth millions. People attach value to authenticity and originals and tradition, however they define that.

Except that with diamonds the authenticity is actual human suffering in virtually slave like conditions.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#113

Post by avhon1 »

zettabomb wrote: post #79
thaumasiotes wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Moissanites have already become as near-worthless as synthetic rubies. I've noticed that synthetic sapphires are (or were?) much more expensive than synthetic rubies. Do you know why?

I'm going to take a guess and say it's because of ruby lasers. They make massive synthetic ruby rods for lasers, but it needs to be one solid piece with very low impurities. A small defect will cause the rod to be entirely unusable for a laser, but there can still be large portions usable for other purposes with less stringent requirements. An example is ruby tipped 3D printer nozzles, used for abrasive filaments, wh…

Other mass-market uses for small rubies are for bearings in precision gear trains, and wear-resistant tips for precision measuring devices.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#114

Post by Xenoamorphous »

rowanG077 wrote: post #72
Joker_vD wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I expect diamonds to lose almost all of their value. Artificial diamonds, you mean. The natural ones will keep their price, just as "hand-crafted" goods did (and, I suspect, as "human-produced" content in the future will); it's a matter of status and signalling that you can afford to buy an inferior, more expensive product.

Why? Natural diamonds are the inferior product in every way.

I never bought a diamond in my life and have zero intention of doing so, but I can see how to some people there would be the appeal of knowing that a diamond came from some rock where it had stayed untouched for millions of years vs. an artificial one made in some China lab last month.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#115

Post by avhon1 »

tonetegeatinst wrote: post #19
jajko wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They never had any value, apart from specialized ie glass cutting tool. Only when DeBeers realized they could push some fictious heavy marketing 'to prove your worth to woman you are asking to marry' for those shiny stones nobody wanted to buy, people who didn't know better got manipulated into buying them. They are supposedly very common in universe, and probably in deeper Earth too. Correction is healthy and benefi…

I think diamonds are used in some lathes as cutting tools. So suprising thats not more common. I though diamonds strength and iirc its heat tolerance would be attractive to the folks who cut stuff.

Diamond turning is used to produce optical surfaces with lathes. Here's a recent example on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPTFFPLOzCw

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#116

Post by asdff »

gwbas1c wrote: post #58
Joker_vD wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I expect diamonds to lose almost all of their value. Artificial diamonds, you mean. The natural ones will keep their price, just as "hand-crafted" goods did (and, I suspect, as "human-produced" content in the future will); it's a matter of status and signalling that you can afford to buy an inferior, more expensive product.

It's based on supply and demand. In 2012, when I was shopping for an engagement ring, a natural 2ct diamond cost $250,000. (I bought a 2ct moissanite for much, much less, and my wife is very happy with it.) When I looked in fall 2023, a natural 2ct diamond cost $20,000. That's a loss of over 90% of value, not counting inflation! (Now the supply of diamonds is much higher, and the demand for natural diamonds is much l…

The realities of this market have not hit the consumers. Even young people are still out there spending 5-6 figures on a rock and ascribing real value and aspirations towards eventually "upgrading" into said rocks from perhaps an existing synthetic alternative already set in the ring. Even if the supply side price argument is so perverted now, we still have a culture that wants to put a high value on this object for sentimental reasons. No one wants to hear that diamond rings are worthless. They want to spend money on it. Spending an appreciable amount of your savings on it is the entire significance of it, not really the value prospect.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#117

Post by BrentOzar »

indoordin0saur wrote: post #27

I'm planning on buying an engagement ring very soon and my own plan (as someone who has never done this before!) is to get a good lab grown diamond but spend more money on the metal in the ring. You can make a gem stone in a lab but until we become a Kardashev II civilization we won't be making any sufficient quantity of gold in a lab. If I buy a good loose lab grown diamond will I be able to find someone who will fi…

> If I buy a good loose lab grown diamond will I be able to find someone who will fit it into a high quality gold ring?

Yes, and even better, don't design the ring by yourself. Get a nice jewelry box for the diamond, use it for the proposal, and when you open the box, say:

"Our relationship is something we're going to build together. I want your opinion on everything for the rest of my life, because you're going to be my partner. I got the diamond, but let's design the ring together, you and I, because this is too important for me to do by myself. I need your help."

They'll melt, and the ring will mean even more.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#118

Post by consteval »

Xenoamorphous wrote: post #114
rowanG077 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Natural diamonds are the inferior product in every way.

I never bought a diamond in my life and have zero intention of doing so, but I can see how to some people there would be the appeal of knowing that a diamond came from some rock where it had stayed untouched for millions of years vs. an artificial one made in some China lab last month.

I think the value of diamonds has always been their rarity and cost. Historically, for married women this allowed them some financial strength and safety net. Of course as time goes on that function becomes less useful, but the idea has still stuck around a bit.

I predict people will turn to other gemstones, or will stick to "natural" diamonds and maybe even get them certified and stuff, producing another artificial market to inflate their value.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#119

Post by pessimizer »

kaashif wrote: post #84
gwbas1c wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's based on supply and demand. In 2012, when I was shopping for an engagement ring, a natural 2ct diamond cost $250,000. (I bought a 2ct moissanite for much, much less, and my wife is very happy with it.) When I looked in fall 2023, a natural 2ct diamond cost $20,000. That's a loss of over 90% of value, not counting inflation! (Now the supply of diamonds is much higher, and the demand for natural diamonds is much l…

> BTW, there is no such thing as an artificial diamond. A manufactured diamond is 100% diamond What do you believe the distinction between artificial and manufactured is? As far as I'm aware, they're almost synonyms. Dictionaries literally list "man made" as one of the definitions of artificial.

A man-made television isn't an artificial television; a man-made taco isn't an artificial taco.

Man-made beef and artificial beef are both the same thing: a not-beef beef substitute. Beef is by definition cow-made.

Man-made diamonds are just diamonds.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#120

Post by jdietrich »

notfed wrote: post #86
godelski wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diamonds have lots of uses beyond being pretty. I have to bring this up because a lot of people are talking as if this is the entirety of the reason for their decrease. But there's diamond files, diamond cutting blades/wheels/drills, you can make glass from it (really only used in labs that absolutely need them because the price), and many more uses. Many of these don't care about size, quality, or clarity. So instea…

> diamond files on Amazon for under $10 Link? I'm skeptical. It seems more likely someone is abusing the term "diamond", no?

Diamonds are just dirt cheap. You can buy a set of ten diamond needle files for $8 on Amazon, or less than $2 in wholesale quantities. I have hundreds of grams of diamond in my workshop in the form of lapping compound; if you're so inclined, you could buy half a kilo of loose diamonds for a couple of hundred bucks.

A wide range of very ordinary cutting tools are now tipped with big chunks of polycrystalline diamond - cutting tools for machining aluminium, inserts for rock drills, saw blades for cutting fibre cement boards. Even woodworkers are starting to use diamond saw blades and router bits, because the improved wear life over tungsten carbide gives a rapid return on investment.

https://www.amazon.com/Yakamoz-10-Piece-Diamond-Jewelers-Pre...

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/140mm-160mm-180mm-Dia...

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32719545477.html

https://union-diamond.en.alibaba.com/index.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003335883020.html

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