Discover your diamond's origin and journey using industry-leading blockchain technology. Shop Now
Treatments and enhancements aim to unnaturally improve the colour/clarity grade of a diamond.
Some of the most common techniques and methods to (unnaturally) enhance or improve the colour and clarity grades of diamonds are listed in the table below. Each method is then covered in more detail.
Method
Aims to Improve
High-Pressure High-Temperature Treatment (HPHT)
Colour Grade
Colour Enhancement
Fracture Filling
Clarity Grade
Laser Drilling
High-Pressure High-Temperature treatment (HPHT) was developed by General Electric to improve the colour of certain types of natural diamonds.
During the formation and subsequent transportation of diamond crystals from deep within the earth's crust to the surface, distortion of the crystal lattice causes some diamonds to have a brown body colour.
Only if the diamond has negligible nitrogen and boron can HPHT be successful. It is estimated that only 3 out of 10,000 diamonds have this combination and are thus suitable for treatment.
Diamonds that have been treated to produce fancy colours are called colour-treated or colour-enhanced diamonds.
The process to produce colour-enhanced diamonds involves artificially altering the colour of a diamond by exposing it to radiation and/or other methods. The colours produced are the full range of the spectrum.
Fracture filling is a post-cutting process that improves the clarity of a diamond, and is achieved through a process of filling surface-reaching cleavages, fractures and laser drill holes with glass or epoxy to make them less visible.
Laser drilling is another treatment that is designed to improve the clarity (and therefore appearance) of a diamond that contains dark inclusions.
A tiny hole is drilled into the diamond with a laser until it reaches the inclusion. The inclusion is then bleached or dissolved using acid. Some diamonds may have multiple drill holes.
Iris Ring Setting
Priced from $834.00
view
Annabel Ring Setting
Priced from $910.00
Martha Ring Setting
Priced from $927.00
Harriet Ring Setting
Priced from $930.00
Gwyneth Ring Setting
Priced from $1,022.00
Shea Ring Setting
Priced from $1,122.00
Nia Ring Setting
Priced from $1,498.00
Eloise Ring Setting
Priced from $1,620.00
Della Ring Setting
Priced from $1,748.00
Antonia Ring Setting
Priced from $1,756.00
Login to save, edit and view your favourites.
Forgot your password?