Lancaster & Stone

What Are Lab-Grown Diamonds?

Lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds created in a lab using advanced technology that replicates natural formation—offering identical sparkle, durability, and chemical composition at a lower cost and with less environmental impact.

  • Composition: Made of pure carbon in a crystalline structure, just like natural diamonds.

  • Appearance: Indistinguishable from mined diamonds in brilliance, clarity, and hardness.

  • Terminology: Also called synthetic, cultured, or engineered diamonds—but they are not simulants like cubic zirconia or moissanite.

What is Moissanite?

Moissanite is a simulant, not a lab-grown diamond. While it’s lab-created like lab diamonds, its chemical composition and optical properties are entirely different from diamonds.

  • Composition: Silicon carbide (SiC), a compound that gives moissanite its unique optical properties.

  • Appearance: Diamond simulants available in colorless, near-colorless, and faint yellow or greenish hues depending on the grade.

  • Hardness: 9.25 on the Mohs scale, making it one of the hardest gemstones, second only to diamond.