How to Make Diamonds With Hydraulic Press

A hydraulic press uses significant force to crush and compress materials, but is unable to create the high-pressure, high-temperature environment necessary to transform coal into diamonds.

Though diamonds may be among the hardest materials ever known to man, they're far from indestructible. A simple blow from a hammer could easily fracture them into chunks of dust; even beautiful faceted diamonds could fracture under some direct force and crumble to dust upon further impact.

How to Make Diamonds

Diamonds are one of the hardest natural materials on Earth. However, this doesn't make them indestructible: chipping or breaking under sufficient pressure is still possible and insured against. As such, all diamonds should be insured against damages such as scratches, chips or theft to provide maximum protection.

Diamonds require high temperature and intense pressure in order to form naturally; thus it takes anywhere between 1 billion to 3.3 billion years for them to form naturally. As carbon is trapped within compressed crystallized form, its atoms begin to align, giving rise to different chemical properties and colors; hence why diamonds come in many hues such as steel gray, yellow, orange, red, green pink purple and brown hues.

Two methods exist for producing diamonds: HPHT and CVD (chemical vapor deposition). Both processes can create gem quality diamonds, but differ in terms of how the diamonds are grown. HPHT recreates conditions found within earth where diamonds form using both high pressure and heat to grow them back out; CVD on the other hand utilizes chemical deposition as it applies heat directly onto diamonds in solution form to grow them out from inert gas to grow gem-quality gems from scratch.

CVD diamond growth takes place under low pressure by using carbon-containing gasses as building blocks to create layers on a diamond substrate and "raining" these down until an ideal gem quality diamond has formed.

Notably, both methods of diamond formation can yield synthetic diamonds; these synthetic gems can only be produced using impregnating carbon-based materials with boron or nitrogen to produce harder and more cost-effective compounds than true diamonds - these so-called synthetic gemstones can be identified using special spectroscopic equipment and should not be considered genuine gemstones.

Still, both HPHT and CVD create diamonds that pass a diamond tester, meaning Brilliant Earth lab-grown diamonds not only pass but will look, feel and behave just like real diamonds - which allows us to provide our customers with a lifetime warranty for their Brilliant Earth lab-grown diamonds.

The Process

Diamonds may have a reputation for being the hardest natural material on Earth, yet many mistakenly assume they're indestructible. If dropped on a tile bathroom floor it would likely be crushed immediately - this is due to people mistaking "hardness" for toughness; diamonds may be extremely hard, but not at all resilient.

One point on a real diamond can easily chip the screen of your smartphone - something not too difficult considering diamond's weak tensile strength. But lab-created diamonds offer excellent value.

Laboratory diamond production begins with a tiny diamond seed and high-purity graphite or carbon. This mixture is then fed into an HPHT machine, short for "High Pressure, High Temperature". This technique has become the dominant way of quickly producing gem-quality diamonds at scale.

Inside this machine is a growth cell heated to over 1,300 degrees Celsius and subjected to immense amounts of pressure, which causes graphite to transform into diamond crystals with a truncated octahedron or hexagonal cubic structure - producing high quality diamonds for use as gemstones.

One cycle of the machine usually lasts around one month and produces approximately 50 gem-quality diamonds for every kilogram of graphite feedstock used - sufficient for satisfying collectors of gem-quality diamonds but insufficient to satisfy everyone.

To improve the quality of diamonds, some are subjected to post-growth treatments that remove impurities and tint them a desirable shade. CVD diamonds often feature yellowish-brown hues; therefore additional steps must be taken for color enhancement before they can be sold on.

Due to this reason, some reputable jewelers offer lab-created diamonds which appear slightly different than natural ones they sell. As such, when selecting your diamond supplier it is wise to obtain a certificate of authenticity to prove its origins.

The Materials

Diamonds may be known for being among the hardest substances on Earth, but that doesn't mean they can't be crushed. A group of YouTubers from Hydraulic Press Channel used their hydraulic press against a 1.2 carat diamond and it quickly crushed it - as seen below in this video!

At the core of all diamond creation lies carbon. A hydraulic press provides this force needed to compress it into its raw diamond form.

Over time, carbon begins to expand its size through reactions with other elements; nitrogen often reacts by binding with carbon atoms and producing graphite. However, this process takes some time before reaching optimal conditions for its growth.

An essential ingredient for creating diamonds is graphite, made up of carbon atoms in three-dimensional arrangement. Hydrogen also plays an essential role in controlling temperature reactions and accelerating growth; furthermore, carbon must also be pure so it can form diamonds.

There are various methods for creating carbon-rich materials, and one method involves hydrogenation. Hydrogenation involves creating a special gas mixture through heating coal or petroleum coke at high temperatures until its volatile components break down, allowing hydrogen molecules to bond to it and form hydrogenated coal that is then compressed under extreme pressure into a press - at lower pressures it forms black rocks while at higher ones it could turn into diamonds!

To generate these high temperatures and pressures, a special type of hydraulic press is utilized. This press features a profiled anvil constructed of WC-Co cemented carbide as well as extremely tough working parts made of TiC. This press can reach temperatures of 1300 degC at pressures ranging between 5.5-10 GPa.

This type of hydraulic press has proven extremely useful for producing synthetic diamonds, as it offers cheaper and more consistent hardness and strength than natural diamonds. Furthermore, they can be used in machining tools for more precise cuts - which has resulted in much faster production times; tools that might have taken skilled craftsman 20 days can now be completed within hours!

The Hydraulic Press

Hydraulic presses are highly powerful machines that utilize pressurized fluid to apply force, making them great for multiple uses such as crushing cars or molding metal objects. Hydraulic presses follow Pascal's Law which states that pressure applied anywhere within an enclosed container will be spread evenly in all directions; making these hydraulic presses immensely powerful -- capable of flattening even natural diamonds instantly!

Have you seen YouTube Videos of hydraulic presses crushing everyday household items with such force that they seem unstoppable? But just how powerful are these machines, and what science lies behind their existence? In this blog post we'll investigate how hydraulic presses operate to be so strong, capable of crushing even diamond.

Diamond is an exceptionally hard crystal composed of carbon atoms arranged tightly in an interlocked lattice structure, giving it its extreme hardness. Yet even its extreme hardness cannot protect it against cracking - for instance by being hit with a hammer, heated by laser or broken with heat from another source such as laser light. Diamonds also possess cleavage planes which make certain areas more fragile.

Scientists must maintain exacting conditions to grow large gem-quality diamonds. Temperature and pressure must remain at consistent levels during growth to avoid fluctuations that could damage or disfigure a growing diamond. Unfortunately, this is not always possible and gem-quality diamonds can sometimes stop growing or become heavily included during this stage. This makes gem-grade stones so rare.

Recently posted to their YouTube channel, Hydraulic Press Channel pitted a 1.2 carat diamond against their hydraulic press for an epic challenge that ultimately went in favor of their press.

Although this match-up was impressive, it highlights that even the hardest materials have their limitations. Hardness does not necessarily equate to toughness - a diamond may be extremely hard but could break easily if dropped on a hard floor surface, much like your iPhone would do. Therefore it is crucial that diamonds are stored carefully so as to not cause further damage to them.