Recently introduced to the concept of lab-grown diamonds, but I do not see many pictures of people''s jewelry or rings on this forum...is there a thread of photos so I can see what they look like "in real life"?
Call it my civil duty or the boy scout in me or whatever...But, these Sitara gems on the link provided are not diamonds. These are a simulant which should be discussed somewhere else outside of this forum. Those on this forum trying to find accurate information about lab-created diamonds have come to a good place. Try not to get confused with diamond simulants and true lab-created diamonds, they are different in many ways. One, among many, is the hardness. The Sitaragems state their hardness to be a 9.1 on the hardness scale. True lab-created diamonds (D.NEA, Gemesis and others referenced throughout this forum) test at a 10 on the hardness scale. While it appears close, a 10 on the hardness scale is exponentially harder than a 9.1 See graph of Moh''s/Vickers here--> http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/Fundamentals/HardnessTrends29IL.pdf)
Amongst other things a Sitaragem states a price of $225/carat for a D,E color IF,VVS1. There will never be a diamond of this quality--natural or lab-grown--for this cheap! A lab-created diamond of such quality would command a much, much higher price than that. The cost to cut that same lab-created diamond alone would more than likely be more than the $225 total.
There is a place for diamond simulants in the world, however the place to discuss them is not in a forum of true diamonds. The properties of lab-grown diamonds are detailed quite accurately throughout this MMD forum and sites such as D.NEA diamonds or Gemesis have excellent information.