Synthetic threat to gem quality diamonds

By Vladimir Teslenko, candidate of chemical sciences

 
For over two thousand years, natural gem-quality diamonds have been in firm demand.
In the 1950-s, the methods of producing laboratory-grown diamonds and substances with nearly identical properties, which can not be distinguished by an average diamond jewellery consumer, appeared. At the beginning of the 21-st century, the laboratory researches reached the level of qualified marketing. A number of domestic and foreign companies announced plans of for the industrial production and marketing of gem-quality synthetic diamonds and synthetic diamond jewelry. Due to the commercial secrecytrade secret regimen regime and marketing bluff surrounding jewelry synthetics, a tensed atmosphere was created on the jewelry market. A The prime cost of synthetics production, factory facilities, sales channels, and a the size quantity of concealed masked retail saless were obscured, though their role in the future of the world global diamond business is seemed to bewas fundamentally important.    

Copyrights and patent rights in the field of synthetics

In the International Patent Law, synthesis of diamond monocrystals is referred to the in class B 01 J 3/06. The database of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trade Marks (http://www.fips.ru) numbers 142 patents applied for both by Russian and foreign applicants. Taking into account cross-patenting of inventions in developed countries, we can suppose that there are nearly 1000 patents in force in this field worldwide. 
Still, all patents represent a weak basis for license agreements. In fact, all patents under consideration are referred to the rough diamonds — a substance of with only intermediate commercial meaningsignificance and, a rough diamond, which had no direct use, until polished.  
A synthetic diamond has to be a) cut,  and b) set into a consumer item. No oneNo one in the world can assert his copyrights through a double processing chain. 
Therefore, such patents are only of engineering and scientific importance.  and serve onlyAnd their function is to accumulate add the authority of concrete specialists. As experience has shown, knowledge owners of ideas rather than patents,patents are appreciated in the world.  It is “brainsbrainpower,”,  and by no meansnot the patents and licences of them, which are in demand in the world market and are subject to the supply-demand quotationfactor. Thus, for example, one of the inventors of BARS technology, Boris Feigelson, who made his discoveries in Novosibirsk, was invited at the beginning of the 1990-s to Belorussia as a director of the factory in Anino. Later, he was invited  - to Moscow (company Bazis), in the middle of the 1990-s, he came to the American company Gemisis, and at the beginning of 2000-s, he was already invited to the USA U.S. innovative incubator Science Application International Corp. Nowadays,   Feigelson has got a jobworks inat the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, one of the biggest centres of the USA U.S. military-industrial complex Naval Research laboratory.

World synthetic production facilities

There are two main methods to produce synthetic diamonds.
1. Growing a diamond seed close to a balanced phase boundary of a diamond-graphite under high pressure and at high temperature;
2. Layer growing from strongly disbalanced hydrocarbon plasma. 
The first method uses a pressure of 5 GPa at 1,500 degrees Celsius. In the international literature it this is known as HTHP (high temperature high pressure), i.e. “high pressure + high temperature.”
The second method is used to produce diamonds under decreased pressure and at high temperature from elementary hydrocarbon like methane; it is known as CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition). This is not a strict name, because gas is only supplied to a reactor, and in a reaction zone gas is decomposed into plasma; it would be more correct to name call it as “plasma synthesis.”.  

1. Method HTHP Method

Method The HTHP method is scientifically defined as the “method of crystallization of diamond from carbonic solution in the conditions of temperature gradient in metallic melt on the basis of iron and nickel, using high pressures.”. 

1.1 The Russian BARS technology BARS
The BARS technology (a non-press device “The slot sphere”) was invented in between 1989-1991 by the scientists from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In the centre of the device, there is a cylinder reaction cell of about 2 cm3 made of ceramics on the zirconium oxide basis. A cell is set into a cubic working substance pressed by VK10 hard alloy elements. An octahedral cavity is pressed by 8 steel sectors. After mounting, the whole assembly is locked in a disc-type barrel with a diameter of a bit more than 1 meter. The barrel is filled with oil, which pressurizes while heatingwith the help of a pump, and pressure grows spreads to the central cell. The central cell is heated up by a coaxial graphite heater. A temperature regime is measured with the help of thermocouple with an external automatic control.   
In 2007, there were about 300 world fleet of BARSes included about 300 devices in the world. The main owners are 1) Adamas BGU (Minsk) – 150 118 (only 60 in operation36 more are being installed); 2) the USA U.S. company Gemesis – 100 devices; 3) company High Optical Technologies company (Moscow) – 30 devices. 
A typical process of one carat diamond synthesis takes about 100 hours, and unique processes take up to 300 hours (sometimes 5-6 carat diamonds can be produced). The device average output (with an accountallowing for of failed and idle launches) is three carats per month. At 70% machine utilization, 7 thousands carats of synthetic diamonds of one carat each can be produced in the world annually. It means that diamond production can reach up to 4 thousands carats of stones weighting 0.30-0.50 carats of light yellow or brown colour. Of course, for the world market of diamond jewelry, this is an insignificant value not exceeding even 0.1%.

1.2 The Chinese FG technology
In 1992, the Zhanjiang high high-tech zone was created in China to accomplish an the ambitious task aimed atof the developmentdeveloping of cheap technology and establishment establishing the of industrial production of synthetic diamonds on the a scale, which can could meet the demand of the country and the whole world as well. The Chinese asked for help in from the Kiev Institute of Ultra-hard Materials. As a result, the Chinese developed a full spectre of necessary equipment, in which a spacer for diamonds synthesis appeared to be a real “diamond.”. For monocrystals synthesis, the FG technology (film growth) was mastered in China. The Chinese have managed to develop a technology on the basis of this method and learned how to get monocrystals of up to one carat of good industrial quality, but of intensive yellow-brown colour. Production facilities and volumes are unknown.

2. CVD Method

The most popular companies using this technology are: Element Six (De Beers affiliate), Apollo Diamond (USAU.S.), and the geophysical laboratory of the  Carnegie Institute. An There are an estimated 100 number of synthesis plants in the world is 100 items, at the majority of them which are technically oriented.  
Only Apollo Diamonds is aimed at jewelry;  — the USA Today magazine reports that the company has 5 five synthesis plants, which can produce 5 carats per week. The equipment allows for producing the production of mainly of brown diamonds from bright to dark colors. 

Mechanisms of unauthorized connection to Diamond diamond pipeline

There are three main ways for of synthetic diamonds to coming inenter the consumer market:.

1. Wholesalers
The biggest wholesaler is the company Chatham Created Gems, San-Francisco, managed by Tom and Serena the Chatem’s family, Tom and Serena. , They who both deal both with Russian (from the RF and Byelorussia) and Chinese goods.
Since 1989, the Thailand company Tairus, established by Valter Barshai, has been working with Russian producers of synthetic semiprecious and precious stones. In the field of synthetic diamonds, its partner is a well-known specialist from Novosibirsk, U. N. Palyanov.
Also known as a wholesaler, Alex Gritsenko from the former USSR runs his business in the USA U.S. (Russian Colllored Stones, Lucent Diamonds, Ultimate Created Diamond). The business volumes are unknown. 

2. Jewelers
In 2000, the Gringor Company from St. -Petersburg announced in publicly the production of the an experimental parcel of synthetic diamond jewelry. Production volumes are unknown.
In summer 2007 the American U.S. company Pintura Cultured Diamond Corporation announced an output of earrings, rings and pendants with synthetic diamonds under the trademark Gemesis™ Diamonds. Moreover, the American designer of leather fancy goods Taryn Rose announced his intention to create a jewelry collection with synthetic diamonds by summer 2008, which is expected to be sold in Neiman Marcus and Saks chain stores in New -York.
There are is also implicit data. ThusO, on June 1-2, 2006, the International Scientific and Practical Seminar “The use of synthetic diamonds in jewelry production and methods of identification” (in Byelorussia State University) was held in Minsk. The Sspecialists from the companies selling and using synthetic diamonds in production, and also from jewelry plants and companies from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and Czechia took part in the seminar. 

3. “Biological” companies
In 2006, the Russian company New Age Diamonds specializing in gem-quality synthetic diamonds production, entered the Japanese market with a new product “Heart-In Baby Diamond”—, a lab-grown diamond made of from new-born children’s hair.
Heart-In Baby Diamond is the last addition to the line of memorable diamonds, which are custom-made of from human or animal hair (alive or dead). Prices for such innovation ranges from ,500 for a light-brown diamond weighting 0.2 carats to ,000 for a red-chameleon diamond weighting 0.8 carats.
Brilliant of Soul Ltd. (established in 2005) from St. -Petersburg offers the same service.
The British company LifeGem has grown a 0.56 -carat diamond of from a curl of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s curl hair and put it up for auction on eBay.

Diamond self-protection

Why all have all gemstones are already surrendered under the onslaught of their  to their synthetic analogues, but diamonds is not?
We came to the following conclusion: a diamond provides for its own protection due to its overall physicochemical properties, in particular, due to a carbon state diagram.
The technology of high temperature processes has reached its natural limits, as all high temperature materials have been already tested. Actually, only ceramic is stable and inert at synthesis temperatures used by the HTHP technique, only ceramics is stable and inert; however, it is at the technology breaking point to press a fragile “flask” up to 5GPa,  and to control a temperature gradient in a synthesis cell,  and, at the same time,at that, and also to watch for a real pressure in an atomic corpuscular zone of diamond synthesis.
As for carbon radicals layer deposition from middle temperature plasma, there are also technical problems are also difficult technical problems. In particular, as a diamond grows, it is necessary to adjust surface plasma, which is not clear even in theory.   

Conclusions:

1. Modern synthetic diamonds production does not pose a threat to popular and elite sectors of the jewelry market, because there is no technology, which produces clear (white) diamonds at competitive price.
2. A maximum capability of yellow-brown synthetic diamonds is to take up insignificant niches on the “outskirts” of the world jewelry market, for example, in collections of admirers of “artificial items,” , “acid style” adherents, lovers of original ritual services and other outcastsminorities.
3. A The level of technologies technological development eliminates a the possibility of outstanding breakthroughs in diamond synthesis in the near future.
4. The developed reserves of natural diamonds and updating of ore-mining and processing technologies will keep a competitive advantage for natural gem-quality diamonds for a period of 50-100 years.