A diamond simulant is a manufactured stone that is meant to mimic the appearance of a diamond. Simulants are made using a wide variety of materials, so they are not chemically identical to mined diamonds. This means that they will not have the same durability, brilliance, and color of a traditional diamond.
Diamond simulants and lab-created diamonds often get mixed up, but they’re completely different. Lab grown diamonds comes in no way of diamond simulants! A diamond simulant is not a diamond at all, because the chemical properties are completely different.
They can be made out of anything from glass to cubic zirconia. While they may look similar at first, diamond simulants aren’t as hard and don’t have the same optical properties as diamonds, so they’ll show signs of wear and won’t be as sparkly.
Properties | Diamonds | Simulants | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Earth Mined | Lab Grown | Cubic Zirconia (CZ) | Moissanite | |
Chemical Compositions | C | C | ZrO2 | SiC |
Crystalline Structure | Cubic | Cubic | Cubic | Hexagonal |
Refractive Index | 2.42 | 2.42 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
Dispersion | 0.044 | 0.044 | 0.066 | 0.104 |
Hardness | 10 | 10 | 8.25 | 9.25 |
Density | 3.52 | 3.52 | 5.70 | 3.21 |
Thermal Conditions | Excellent | Excellent | Poor | High |
Intrinsic Purity | Only 2% are Type IIa | Rare and Purest (100% Type IIa) | NA | NA |
Unit of Measurement | Carats | Carats | Carats | Carats |
Blue Fluorescence | Strong to None | None | None | None |
Phosphorescence | No | Some | NA | NA |
Colour Distribution | Even | Even | NA | NA |